Portugal is a relatively safe country and I would say considerably safer than the United States. You rarely hear of homicides and gun-related crimes. However, there is a lot of theft. Most people that I know in Portugal have been robbed at least once in their lives. Personally, I have also been robbed in Canada too. Also, when I go to Portugal, I'm there for a long time so there is probably a greater chance of something happening to me than to most tourists. During the summer I was there for almost 7 weeks.
In the case of my dSLR, I don't know what happened. Again it happened at a outdoor cafe in Porto. I was with a group of people having small meal and when we were done, the bag was gone. Nobody at my table saw the thief.
The incident with my MP was in my hometown of Coimbra. I was shooting around the downtown area for over an hour. In that period, I did noticed a few times a man that kept passing me and observing what I was photographing. He looked like a street person and I thought that he was perhaps homeless. He later turned out to be the thief's father. He had his young son do the dirty work. After the boy was arrested I found out that the he and his family weren't even from Portugal - they were Gitanos from Spain and that they were also wanted there for other robberies - mostly purse snatching.
Like I said before, I would not hesitate to bring my Leicas or any other cameras to Portugal again. I would just make sure that I have the necessary insurance in case something happens. Portugal is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and the people are full of character. Portugal is the oldest country in Europe (as a political entity and unified people) and has a tremendous history and culture. The photographic opportunities in that country are much too great to pass by.
