Robberies of small businesses on rise

Jennifer Lawson

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

Prevention tips

Robbery prevention tips for small businesses:

Movie theaters, fast food joints, record shops and adult bookstores are seeing a recent increase in robberies, and Metro Police are asking small-business owners to protect themselves.

Twelve times in the past month, robbers have hid in restrooms until employees close up for the night. When employees are counting the cash drawer, the suspects slip out of the bathroom, pull out a gun and demand the cash.

Also, Metro is investigating 16 "bank bag" robberies, in which thieves wait for small-business workers to drop off their night deposits, then steal the bag at gunpoint.

"If we can keep these kinds of opportunity robberies down, it will give my guys more time to spend on violent robberies," Lt. Ted Snodgrass said Tuesday.

Snodgrass doesn't think the same people are committing the robberies. The crimes occurred all over the city, and the descriptions of the suspects vary from case to case.

In one case the suspect hid in the restroom of a fast food restaurant for more than an hour, ordered the employees into the break room at gunpoint, then stole money from the cash drawers.

Robberies were already up 10 percent from last year before this recent string of small-business robberies, Snodgrass said.

He gave March and August as examples. In March 2001 Metro handled 289 robberies, and in March of this year, there were 306.

In August 2001, the department handled 335 robberies, and 353 in August of this year.

"This is the beginning of the Christmas thievery season, and I'd like to lower my numbers from last year," he said.

Charlie McKee, a Metro crime prevention specialist, said his advice for employees is simple: Make sure all customers are out of the building before locking it up.

"Suspects have told officers who've visited them in prison that they've staked out the business for weeks before committing the crime," McKee said. "Small businesses need to be aware of what's going on, always."