View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > July > 13
Friday, July 13, 2007
Does your purse say ‘steal me’?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent some time recently going into grocery stores to see how many women had their purses in the ‘steal me’ spot in the cart and how many of those purses were wide open.
Just about all of the purses were in the cart seat but a good many were zipped up. I found that some shoppers walked 15 to 20 feet away from the cart with their purses wide open and their wallets exposed. We do as much communicating to the public as we can right now, trying to get folks to realize that all of these thefts are dependent on the opportunity to steal. Just closing your purse makes a big, big, difference.
Too many folks are leaving valuables in the car while the car is inside the garage. What the thieves are doing is checking the door to see if it’s unlocked and if it is, they’re coming in and swiping things from the kitchen area counter. Set your alarms and look at installing motion detection outside lights.
Here are some of the incidents reported in the past week:
Robbery
Three men, wearing gray suits, masks, and rubber gloves, came into the south entrance of the Tijuana Joe’s restaurant on Roswell Road, around 12:30 a.m., and robbed employees of just over $2,900 and jewelry. The two victim/witnesses said they were outside the restaurant when a car drove up. The three suspects, one wearing a “Chuckie” masks, got out of the car and forced the employees inside where a third employee was counting the money.
If you own a business, I cannot tell you how important it is to train your closing staff to lock the building down when the money is out of the safe or being counted. These guys looked for the most vulnerable time. They did their homework too. They knew exactly where and when.
Burglary
Sometime between 1 a.m. and 7a.m., someone entered a resident of Duncourtney Drive through an unlocked sliding glass door and took a wallet and a purse from the kitchen counter.
Sometime between 11:15 p.m. and 7 a.m. someone came took a purse from a home on Glencourtney Drive. The victim believes the burglar went into her carport, got a spare house key from her makeup bag in the car and then entered the home.
Someone took an X-Box system and related games, etc. from an apartment on Monterrey Pkwy. The victiim said that he leaves the door unlocked during the day when he’s gone.
Arrests
Roberto Castro, 45, of Alpharetta was arrested for shoplifting $519 in clothing that he stuffed into a duffle bag he brought into a store. Okay, when you bring a duffle bag into a retail store, you might as well set off flares and write “SHOPLIFTER” on your forehead with a Sharpie.
John Mark Karr, age 42, from Sandy Springs, was arrested for Battery and Obstruction of a 911 call. Wexford Karr, age 86, was arrested for Simple Battery relating to the same call.
David Emory Frazier, 33, of Atlanta was arrested and charged with Simple Assault and Disorderly while Under the Influence after Northside security officers called the PD regarding Frazier’s outburst after not being able to smoke a cigarette in the hospital. He was restrained by eight security officers, one who said he was scratched and choked by the suspect.
Other Things A man came into the Sandy Springs Police Department and said he received an e-mail from someone (unknown) who informed him someone had taken out a hit contract on him. The e-mail ordered him to make a cash payment within 72 hours if he wanted to live. The e-mail did not state how the target was supposed to make the payment.
