North Little Rock, AR cops stand by and watch as convenience store is robbed!

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ^ | 31 AUG 02 | BY JIM BROOKS

[marajade]

I can't believe your post is true at all... Most banks have civilian security guards and would prevent anyone with a shotgun coming into a bank... Second, most law enforcement will respond within minutes to a call of a crime in progress such as yours... What city and law enforcement agency in CA was this?

[FormerLurker]

Um, from my reading of the article they were heavily armed...

Um, I was talking about the clerk. They allowed an unarmed clerk to deal with an armed bandit, yet THEY feel the need to wear body armor and carry sub-machine guns whenever they perform a drug bust. And yes, more than likely they were also heavily armed while they were waiting for the perp to rob the store and exit.

[marajade]

"They allowed an unarmed clerk to deal with an armed bandit ..."

Okay, maybe they thought it better not to because it might escalate if both victim and suspect had guns...

[Ben Bolt]

Knowing who he was , where he was , and having watched him it adds up to allowing him to rest . There is no excuse for any of this with the possible exception of making the arrest immediatly after the fact .

" He had a gun " .. That's a fine excuse .

[A CA Guy]

This was in Brea California in the 80s. The main bank was under cionstruction and they had a trailer bank going.
It was next to where a freeway onram was, so that makes it a great choice for crime.
Police showed up half our later.
Neighbor hood is mostly white at that time and these were three blacks dressed in gang garb.
At the time I was a kid woring at a gas station and saw all this, reported it to 911.

4 hours later there was a black patron putting gas in his car at the station I worked out. Was dressed in a nice dress shirt.
Brea cop gets out of car with shot gun. From behind they put the gun towards this guysneck and asked for permission to see his liscence. HE SAID OK!

Happened, and some of it shook me up surrounding it all.

[NYTexan]

If the cops new he was going to rob the store, then they should have arrested him for possesion of a deadly weapon!

[TexasCajun]

...didn't the cops have probable cause to stop this guy from the information given them from their CI?

A stop for questioning and pat-down would have found a fire-arm and BAM!, back to jail for felon in possession of a fire-arm!!

Sounds like a better idea than putting the store clerks life in danger, don't you think?

[A CA Guy]

take the i out of the other attempt at spelling construction

[FormerLurker]

Okay, maybe they thought it better not to because it might escalate if both victim and suspect had guns...

Haven't you read enough of this thread to understand that the best possible thing (and only sensible thing) they could have done would have been to replace the clerk with an armed undercover cop? Why subject a civilian to such an ordeal if he or she could have been kept out of harms way? Is that what you consider to be great police work, when the most dangerous part of a stakeout is manned by a unarmed civilian?

[A CA Guy]

onram is on ramp, sorry, terrible hitting the correct keys today.

[marajade]

"Police showed up half our later."

So your post about the police not responding within minutes was inaccurate because the call to the police to reported wasn't made until probably after the suspects had left. Is that correct?

[A CA Guy]

Neighbor hood is neighborhood, gee, I guess I should go back to bed and pull the cover over my head before I hurt myself the way I'm typing today! LOL

[marajade]

Well robbery carries a much longer sentence then just possession of a weapon... The way the police responded they got him for armed robbery and possession of a weapon...

[FormerLurker]

A stop for questioning and pat-down would have found a fire-arm and BAM!, back to jail for felon in possession of a fire-arm!!

That is another fact missed by many so far. They COULD have, and probably SHOULD have gone about it that way, IF they knew the identity of the perp beforehand..

[TexasCajun]

"Um, you can't arrest someone for something they haven't done... "

Well... You don't live in Houston, Texas!!

[marajade]

And if they put an unarmed police officer in there as a clerk do you think the prosecution would be successful getting a conviction?

[A CA Guy]

No, I reported it to 911 as I saw it and they did not arrive till much later.
This is a wealthy town and I was surprised, but I guess their thinking was "let them rob and get away rather than kill everyine inside" - but that is only my guess.

[SarahW]

No he would not.

He was a felon on parole and had a gun. He would have gone straight to jail, parole revoked, and gotten additional time on a weapons charge.

He would have been imprisoned.

[marajade]

"No, I reported it to 911 ..."

While it was in progress? And it took the police a half hour to respond? If that truly the case, which I completely doubt, you need a new police chief and police force...

[sweetliberty]

"Why didn't they substitute an armed officer in a bullet proof vest for the clerk?"

That just makes WAY too much sense.