Rob the Town

Lots of action around the Zone [d'Erotica], and apparently not the erotic kind.

Dunno about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired of all the armed robberies in the last 30 days two months?. I started writing a robbery-related post here a few days ago and shelved it as being a bit too obnoxious, even for me.

"Rob the town" to accompany our "apartment the town" initiative?

12/16 DART Station robbery (4x BM)
2700 12/14/2010 11:25:00 PM CST 2600 Block of CUSTER PKWY 120 ROBBERY 10-120162 (BM, UM)
12/13/2010 08:15:00 PM CST 500 Block of CENTENNIAL BLVD 120 ROBBERY 10-119768 (2x WM - atm bandit + accomplice?)
9100 12/12/2010 06:15:00 PM CST 500 Block of CENTENNIAL BLVD 120 ROBBERY 10-119453 (2x WM atm bandit + accomplice?)
6300 12/12/2010 08:00:00 PM CST 800 Block of E ARAPAHO RD 120 ROBBERY 10-119467 (BM, WM)
8200 12/07/2010 08:25:00 PM CST 2400 Block of BUTTERCUP DR 120 ROBBERY 10-117859 (BM, WM)
1700 12/07/2010 07:10:00 PM CST 700 Block of W SPRING VALLEY RD 120 ROBBERY 10-117844 (2x BM)
0610 12/02/2010 03:10:00 PM CST 100 Block of N COIT RD 120 ROBBERY 10-116200 (2x WM, WF)
6610 12/01/2010 06:14:00 AM CST 1000 Block of FRANCES WAY 120 ROBBERY 10-115667 (BM)

0800 11/30/2010 10:30:00 PM CST 900 Block of S COIT RD 120 ROBBERY 10-115606 (2x BM)
7610 11/29/2010 12:00:00 PM CST 1400 Block of E ARAPAHO RD 120 ROBBERY 10-115123 (2X BM)
2110 11/27/2010 07:20:00 PM CST 500 Block of W ARAPAHO RD 120 ROBBERY 10-114663 (UM)
0800 11/26/2010 04:30:00 PM CST 1300 Block of WESTON WAY 120 ROBBERY 10-114339 (WM)
1200 11/22/2010 11:27:00 AM CST 900 Block of REDWOOD DR 120 ROBBERY 10-113060 (2x BM)
11/12 Attempted Robbery 1700 Belt line (2x BF, BM)
11/5 Agg. Robbery 3500 Harlington (2x BM)
11/4 Bank Robbery 4200 Renner (BM)

34 suspects in 17 events.



(image from Oleg's site.)

ATM robber caught (on TV, no less)

Robber shows up to rob people at the same ATM. TV crew is filming, catches robbery on tape.

You can see the video in the story here. Check out how the guy approaches the SUV. This is useful info.

Armed Robbery @ ATM

[update - he got caught]


Here's the DMN story. I suspect this was at the Bank of America but haven't listened to the scanner audio yet. If so, this is the place that was hit (in Nov?) by an armed robber who fled on foot and, apparently, was not apprehended.


Here's a link to the release; I didn't see it on COR.net yet.

And here's how to get an application for a CHL (concealed handgun license).

RPD manhunt for robber, Buckingham/Audelia

Happening at the time of this post. DPD Helo (Air One) and DPD ground officers are assisting.


[update @21:23 - the robbery appears to have been a carjacking. Sounds like the scene is winding down.]

Theft is dangerous

When criminals start telling each other it's dangerous to steal AC units, copper tubing, etc., the behavior will decrease markedly.  Until then it's an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Somewhat related: G20 looter steals some stuff, bystander tackles him and tosses the loot back into the store.  Nicely handled.

RPD/google crime map tweak

I noticed recently that the RPD crime map looked subtly different but I couldn't figure out how.

Turns out there is a new purple icon that does not appear in the map key to the right. It appears that:

purple icon = pending residential burglary
yellow icon = inactive "Resdiential" (sic) burglary

Perhaps this change was due to harping (mine, among others) that residential burglaries do not get enough detective time and/or Crime Scene attention like commercial burglaries and higher-$$$ thefts do. The existence of a purple icon might signify additional RPD resources being allocated to residential burglaries. Or it could mean something as cynical as brass telling a web jockey to "post all burg-habs as pending for a week then move them to inactive." I hope for the former rather than the latter.

If there were a contact email on that page I'd let them know about the missing purple icon in the key and the "resdiential" typo. But there's not, so I won't. Not that it would make a huge difference. A few months ago their webmaster was emailed that the "Last 6 months | Last 12 Months | Last 18 months" links on the crime listings page all point to the same URL but it's still busted...

Attempted residential burglaries booked as lesser crimes?

This article deals with a bit of a gray area in crime reporting in DPD. This is an important issue because RPD does the same thing, and we should probably think about what it means.

The RPD position is that in some cases the burglary cannot be proven but a lesser charge of criminal mischief or vandalism can be. This seems to be a reasonable position, although I think maybe the prosecutor should be making that call. Maybe the prosecutor[s] have already given a rule-of-thumb to the RPD which they follow. I don't know.

Hardboiled cynics might say that this downgrading is intentional because it makes the crime stats look better. I am not quite that cynical yet.

But the take-away is this: when you see crime stats for criminal mischief or vandalism consider the possibility that this was an attempted burglary that was written up as a lesser offense. I know I am a broken record on this, but if you want to know why the LEO was called in the first place you're going to have to listen to the scanner traffic. It's not a perfect solution but it's better than the alternatives.

Seriously, get a carry license

At the Spring Valley DART station today, taking the train to the fair.

Wife and I were walking up the stairs when a aggressive/freaky/huge looking dude stops dead in the middle of the stairway facing us and stares at us. We had to rearrange to go around him. I said "good morning" as we passed. He didn't answer and I didn't hear him move behind us. My heartrate was a little elevated because this dude did not seem right. He had that "I am a sociopath and would just as soon kill you" vibe.

A few minutes later we were up on the platform. He walked upstairs again and came right over to us. Oh boy. Here we go.

Him: Hey man, do you have $2?
Me: No, I don't.
Him: I didn't mean to be rude when you talked to me down there.
Me: No problem. It's all right.
Him: [suddenly agitated] Why did you talk to me?
Me: [boggling, WTF?] What?
Him: [more agitated, seemingly unhinged] Why did you talk to me, with all these other people here? Why the hell you wanna...
Me: I said "good morning". [At this point I pulled my elbow in a bit so I could be sure of the positioning of the subcompact 9mm in the holster on my hip.]
Him: [he continues ranting]
Me: "We're done here", and I shepherded the wife away.

Moved to the north end of the platform and he followed within a minute or so.
We moved to the south end and he followed after a bit. Crap. This isn't a coincidence.
Moved to the north end again and placed a call to RPD.

I identified him in pieces, as he kept getting close enough to hear and we had to relocate several times: Black male, 30+ yrs old, 6' 1" or 6' 2" (he was taller than me), 200#, black knit cap, dark sunglasses, long desert-style camo parka shell, brown pants.

Within a couple of minutes two officers (244 and 264) showed up and walked the platform. They walked south-to-north like they were scoping then went downstairs. I couldn't see where they were, if they had left, or what. My guess at that time was that they had ID'ed the guy from my description (he was obvious) and was waiting for the train to clear the crowd before moving in. At this point I was still on the phone with dispatch and we agreed to drop the call since two LEOs were on scene.

After the cops had been (downstairs? gone?) for about two minutes the fellow got agitated again and started asking a group of commuters "why the cops here? What they looking for? Those was Richardson po-lice, not DART po-lice."*, etc. We moved away again and so did not hear the rest.

Interesting that he was so clued in to the difference between the affilliation of the officers, and that he saw both of them although they were moving seperately in different areas and in a low-key fashion through the crowd. I knew they were on-scene somewhere and still barely spotted them until they were quite near. I suspect his questions indicated he understood the LEOs were not there on a random patrol, and he wanted to know who called the police. Frak.

Train came shortly thereafter, wife and I boarded, and our pet psycho stayed on the platform.


I came home and listened to the scanner traffic. Call came in at 9:28am, and my description was reduced to "BM, 6 foot, camo, panhandling and behaving strangely". Both cars were on-scene by 9:33am, then nothing more until one of the officers announced he was clear at 10:23am. Normally if they had stopped someone they would have run a background check on the NCIC channel, but that was not on the recording. I bet a dollar that psycho had an active warrant somewhere. I suspect no contact was made.
Lesson learned: next time I will request officer contact so I can ensure contact gets made with the suspect. I did not request contact w/me as we were waiting on a train and didn't know when it would arrive.

I guarantee you that an encounter like this with a potentially dangerous pursuer is much different when you are armed. Instead of being in trapped animal mode, you are aware of the options in the scenario. There is no huge power disparity, there is just a human acting strangely and aggressively which you have to deal with safely.
Here's another pointer to a decent unofficial overview of how to get started with your concealed carry license.


* I was conflicted about whether or not to transcribe this outburst into standard English. Tried it both ways and it seemed more artificial to put words in his mouth. So those are direct quotes. If you have a problem with this word choice or syntax, feel free to take it up with him.

Suspect in 9/16 home invasion

The details, such as they are, can be found here.










While you've got your eyeballs peeled, this fellow is also loose in the region.

9/16 home invasion/kidnapping Buckingham apartments

Local 6pm news had a segment about a home invasion / robbery / kidnapping on Buckingham. I can't find any online sources of info yet. {Update: see vid at bottom}

My uncomfirmed instinct: is that it started last night and wasn't reported until this AM when the perps left the house so the residents could report it. The dispatch time and doesn't line up with the 9-to-12 hour event duration unless it started last night and ended this morning.



This is within easy walking distance of my house. I turned on a couple more exterior lights than usual, doublechecked the carry sidearm and the Moss 500. Yes, the Dear Wife also knows how to shoot them.

BTW, let's say it's the middle of the night and three armed men just kicked in your door (see above). How scary, inappropriate, and unnecessary is that homeowner's assault rifle now?

{edit: I do not mean to imply that an assault weapon is the best tool to combat home invaders; that role is served by a shotgun. Simpler to use, less $$$, and less risk of overpenetration. About the only time the assault rifle is a better deal is if the invaders are armored.}

Images by the amazing Oleg Volk.




I'll pull down this Ch11 vid from my MythTV box as soon as the segment appears on CBS 11. The audio and/or aspect may be jacked, as this is my first attempt at editing video.

10/7: 2 armed robberies in short order

Note: there are a couple of {corrections/additions} made to the post below.

I started out listening to the "tape" from 10/7 because I saw this:
09/07/2009 11:55 PM ROBBERY-INDIVIDUAL 1100 BLK of ABRAMS RD

The file is the full day's audio (about 4 hours of solid audio), and the robberies start around {10:30pm} (2300 hrs in military/PD lingo). That'd be about 75% into the file.

{It'd been a while since I'd listened to a whole day's audio so I listened to the whole thing. I was surprised to hear two armed robberies within an hour.}

There was also an interesting altercation at the DART rail station that gives you an idea of what kind of weird thing happens there. I was one to pooh-pooh the "DART stations breed chaos" argument, but I've heard some pretty crazy stuff reported from there. Maybe we need video surveillance if we don't have it already.

Other stuff worth listening to on there. You can play it on your iPod while you commute or whatever.

Reminder: if you have a CHL, carry. If you don't have a CHL, are eligible, and are comfortable with sidearms I encourage you to get licensed. Here is a layman's description of the process.

burglary arrest in SE Richardson

A Signal 37 call (suspicious person) from a citizen on Stillmeadow resulted in multiple arrests for burglary today.

The good news:
* RPD handled the situation professionally after they engaged it
* 4 burglars caught
* no LEOs hurt

The bad news:
* The first officer started underway to the location eighteen minutes after it was called in. The dispatcher gave the "holding a 37" notification three times before it was picked up.

Here is unedited audio of RPD radio traffic during the event. Note that not all the audio is relevant to the burglary, particularly for the first few minutes while the call is awaiting assignment.

I think we got lucky on this one. Professional burglars would have been in/out well before that 18-min mark. I suspect there is a significant gap between the level of concern homeowners have about residential burglary and the level of concern within RPD about the same crime. I get it. It's not exciting for cops to chase burglars (unless you can catch them in the house as heard above). But the citizens care deeply about it.

The situation will change when one or more of these events becomes commonplace:

* Richardson residents start applying Castle Doctrine to the defense of their home.
* Richardson residents get injured or killed by burglars.
* Richardson residents resort to hiring private crime scene examiners when RPD declines to do simple detective work like photography and fingerprinting.
* A city official personally experiences burglary/robbery.
* Richardson residents start running their own armed patrols to secure their neighborhoods. Think this is a stretch? Anyone remember pictures of the "Collin County Militia" that used to be on the walls at the Main Street Liquid Company?
* The white-flighters that rushed to Richardson in the 1970s (now retirees) either sell their houses and retire elsewhere, or start demanding nontrivial amount of attention from city officials.

I am not recommending, I'm predicting. None of these will look good on the local media. And that, as far as I can tell, is the only real leverage anyone has over city government. Reality is useless. Perception is everything.

More press about the car wash shooting

Here.

Be sure to read the lengthy quotes from RPD talking about their investigation in this matter. Oh, wait; there are none.

Sketch of car wash shooter

The sketch is online here.

Remember that scanner audio of the shooting and the subsequent manhunt is uploaded in the files section of the HighlandTerraceChat mailing list.

Knock and Rob

RPD has said it before: answer your door if someone knocks, because their next move may be to kick in your back door.

It's happened 2x in the east half of Richardson in the last week. Homeowner was home but didn't answer the door. The knock and rob burglars then attempted to make entry through the back of the residence but were scared off when they saw/heard the occupant.

You do NOT want these people in your house. Answer the door. At the very least you get a good look at them.


RPD has these suggestions getting good actionable descriptions:

If you see a car or people in the neighborhood that you haven't seen before, take an extra couple of minutes to see what they are doing, where they are going.

Did they park at a neighbors house and have you ever seen the car or people at that neighbors before?
Did one or two people go to the door and leave someone in the vehicle?
Did anyone walk around to the back and the car leave at that same time?
Did they return to the car, drive down the block and park again, not doing anything?
Are they going door to door? Yes, it maybe solicitors, but keep an eye on them, make a mental note of the description of them and the car if there is one, call if it doesn't seem right.
Did they drive away after going to the front door and then turn down an alley?

If you notice this type of behavior, it could be considered suspicious, make a mental note or write down descriptions of people and cars. Call us and report it, if it seems unusual to you, this type of activity in the daytime in a neighborhood needs attention. [emphasis added by bloggermouse]

VIN Etching 5/28

See the image for details.

Richardson thief caught on video

This, my friends, is what video is for.

Our ethically challenged friend is lucky there was no armed guard posted in the building. Perhaps this is an opportunity for him to repent (maybe he will read a similar situation in Les Miserables while imprisoned?).

Scanner feed: COR.200904200741

MP3 uploaded here, 28MB.

04/20/2009 06:55 AM THEFT-MV PARTS 400 BLK of S GREENVILLE AVE
04/20/2009 08:00 AM ATT VEH AUTO-THEFT 400 BLK of INTERNATIONAL PKWY
04/20/2009 09:10 AM BURG FORCE-RESD 1000 BLK of NORTH PARK DR
04/20/2009 09:00 AM BURG UNLAW-RESD 400 BLK of SHADOW BEND DR

hey, face shooting made the blotter

In the past I have made skeptical noises about the quality and quantity of the RPD blotter, such as it is.* I believe it is watered down to near-uselessness for legal reasons. I was doubtful that the robbery/shooting would even show up. But here it is:

Date: 4/13/2009 9:50:00 PM
IRA: 4700
UCR Code: 120
Offense Description: 120 ROBBERY
Block: 1000 of AUDELIA RD
Service Number: 09-035065

I am pleased to have been proved wrong on this.


* basically, that there should be a real blotter.

Ah, the old "shot in the face" trick

Idiot robbed and shot a fellow in the face at a carwash Monday night about .5M south of here. Yay.

The newspaper article didn't mention a description, but the scanner did. I assume the paper (and blotter report, if any) will tiptoe around that one for PC/age reasons.