Friday, August 6, 2010

Robbery update

Tuesday’s bank robbery at a US Bank branch was Lincoln’s second bank robbery of the year.  The first, back on May 4th, was also at a US Bank branch—on the opposite end of the city.  Both of these robberies were cleared up in a matter of minutes.  In the most recent case, the subject was in Office John Clarke’s custody 30 minutes after the robbery and a couple hundred yards away.  During her short period on the lam, she had allegedly spent some of the proceeds ordering a set of dentures at a nearby business, and then backtracked in the direction of the scene of the robbery, a rather flawed get away plan.

Interestingly, this was not our suspect’s first bank robbery.  She was arrested for robbing US Bank’s main Lincoln location downtown on July 27, 2005.  She was  sentenced to three years of probation in connection with that case.  In the 2005 robbery, she was apprehended by Officer Rich Fitch about 3 blocks and 5 minutes away.  Somehow I think she needs to select a new career; this one doesn’t seem to be panning out too well.

We were six for six when this article ran more than a year ago in the Lincoln Journal Star.  We are eight for eight now: each of the last eight bank robberies has been cleared by arrest, and the average time from the crime to the collar is less than an hour.  Lincoln continues to be rather inhospitable to bank robbers.

Just a quick update on where we stand so far in 2010 on robberies of all types of businesses.  There have been 13.  This compares with 29 during the same period in 2009.  That’s a 55% drop in biz robberies: very weird, and very gratifying.  

By the way, I counted 77 business robberies in Omaha so far this year on the Omaha World Herald’s map, which is a pretty reasonable number for a city of their size.  Only three of those appear to be bank robberies, which is excellent.  The overall number of robberies in Omaha was down by 12% through the end of May—the most recent month available on their public website. Although we only have a fifth of their volume,  the Omaha decrease robbery decline actually beats ours.  Overall robberies in Lincoln are down 11% this year.

7 comments:

Wannabe Lawyer said...

Isn't bank robbery a federal crime? Then we shouldn't presume to set policy on a local level. After all, the alleged "robbers" are just trying to improve their economic status.

Anonymous said...

Chief,

I haven't seen any media coverage of robbery B0-075460. Broad daylight, at a credit union ATM? Was that an outside walk-up ATM, or an indoor type? Was any weapon shown?

Anonymous said...

Walk in to a bank and hold it up and you are a criminal. Get a few politicians in your pocket and let them give you billion$ and you are an astute businessman. Go figure!

Gun Nut

Anonymous said...

August 6, 2010 7:41 AM
Good point.
Less money is lost this way, the stimu bucks are spent much more poorly

Tom Casady said...

12:31-

Boyfriend forced girlfriend to drive to ATM and make withdrawal. Presumably she's not visiting him in jail....

Anonymous said...

Chief,

I hate to say it, but if this isn't their first domestic violence incident, then she might actually bail him out after he gets arraigned and has a bail hearing. Then, she might decide to not testify vs the guy. I'm not kidding. You might be sighing and nodding yes right about now.

Trina said...

Chief, do you use thresholds for any comparisons rather than percentage change? I'd be curious what a normal range is for robberies rather than a straight comparison of one time period to another.

Also, congrats on your bank robbery arrests. I can't remember the last time we caught one straightaway.