Crooks have special holiday spirit

J. Craig Anderson

Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 | 7:45 a.m.

Santa Claus isn't the only one working overtime this holiday season.

Shoplifters, carjackers, bag-snatchers and other assorted criminals see the chaos of post-Thanksgiving shopping as a perfect opportunity to prey on businesses and their customers, according to members of a special Metro Police task force.

Metro began its third annual "Holiday Initiative" Friday, a concerted effort among robbery detectives, SWAT and uniformed officers to crack down on crime at malls and shopping centers.

Last year, police made 65 felony arrests, 37 misdemeanor arrests and issued 196 other citations as part of the effort, Metro police Lt. Ted Snodgrass said.

Snodgrass, a detective in the property crimes unit who organized the initiative, said he hated the fact that his own family members were afraid to go shopping during the holiday season.

"My mom got robbed once during the Christmas holidays, and I've just never forgotten it," he said.

After a briefing Friday morning, three teams comprised of SWAT, uniformed cops and plain-clothed detectives patrolled 12 malls and shopping centers throughout the community looking for suspicious activity.

Within less than two hours, police had arrested one man who had been driving a dilapidated van with expired Washington tags around a shopping center parking lot, apparently casing the area.

When police ran his name through their system, they discovered the man was a wanted fugitive from another jurisdiction, Sgt. Frank Hernandez said.

"Hopefully we helped to prevent something from happening today," Hernandez said.

Not relying solely on keen observation, police also reviewed intelligence reports and identified likely suspects to look for during the operation. The reports include everything from criminals' home addresses and vehicle descriptions to their likely targets.

Snodgrass said a number of crimes increase during the holidays. Carjacking, for example, is a problem because crooks know vehicles are likely to be loaded with expensive gifts.

Last year, the Holiday Initiative led to the recovery of 20 stolen cars, he said.

Other holiday-specific crimes target hard-to-get items, Snodgrass said. Police received some reports that people who had just purchased the new Xbox 360 videogame system were being robbed as they walked out the door.

"If you can think it up, they're doing it," he said.

Police met with security personnel at area retail centers Tuesday to explain the initiative and give them contact information to report a crime or suspicious person to task force members.

Snodgrass said grocery store managers seemed particularly interested in the initiative this year, because bold thieves have been walking right out the door lately with cartloads of goods -- with the same person often returning multiple times.

"They're getting hit for thousands of dollars in meat and liquor," Snodgrass said.

In general, the holiday crime increase is just a simple matter of arithmetic.

"If you've got the suspect, plus the victim, plus the opportunity, you've got the crime," he said. "What we're trying to do is inject ourselves into the equation."

J. Craig Anderson can be reached at 259-2320 or at craig@lasvegassun.com.