Do Armed Robbers usually get away with it?

[FourTenJaeger]

On my daily police blotter and news-reading, There's a good number of armed robberies per day. Very rarely do I hear about suspects being identified or arrested, It seems to me the 'wiser' criminal who wears a gloves.. mask.. drives a car that isn't THEIRS.. Gets away with armed robbery.

Not your liquor store stick up job or bank robbery, Most of these robberies are groceries, pharmacies, or other retail stores. Do they get caught and it's not news any more?

I just assume it's like auto theft - If they aren't caught on the act or leave substantial evidence to go on, it's a dead end case.

[tyrist]

Yes they get caught because the same people keep doing it over and over again.

[woozyjon]

Correct, I had a client this week take a plea deal on over 20 counts and is going away for 20 years. You might hear about a string of I solved robberies, but in the end they always seem to get caught. Usually supporting a drug habit and their cognitive thought process is a bit hampered.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

As the perp commits more and more crimes, they get more and more comfortable. Thus, they get more and more careless. I've talked to lots of bad guys who honestly believed it was impossible for them to get caught, speaking from the back seat of the radio car.

[1CavScout]

Like was already stated, it's usually the same guys committing the crimes. Most of the time we had a series of 211's, the MO was the same. These guys usually get caught eventually.

[CPRAFAN]

To paraphrase an old saying: "There are bold robbers and there are old robbers; but there are no old bold robbers!" Sooner or later these robbers will run into the wrong guy who has a bullet waiting for them with their name on it or a judge who has a place for them to go for a long time.

[Eric B]

They're caught daily, it just doesn't make news. Only the serial and most prolific ones make the news.

[Librarian]

Usually? Yes.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/clearances

Robbery in the US in 2012 was cleared by arrest 28.1% of the time. In California in 2012, a bit under half of robberies were committed by perpetrators with some kind of weapon (28,859/55,901 listed as 'strongarm").

[FourTenJaeger]

I had asked previously if most arrests were from prior offenders - They are, so I guess it all makes sense now.

[FourTenJaeger]

As the perp commits more and more crimes, they get more and more comfortable. Thus, they get more and more careless. I've talked to lots of bad guys who honestly believed it was impossible for them to get caught, speaking from the back seat of the radio car.

Most of the morons I see who do the robberies run in with no sort of identity concealment - Face, fingerprints, gang tats all showing. I used to ask myself why, is it because they know they can plea out and get out on probation?

Then I remembered, if they're dumb enough to do any of that without thinking beforehand, they're probably not that bright in the first place

[Pauliedad]

A cop buddy of mine once told me the truly smart criminals don't get caught. He said they were few and far between. I asked what he based that on and he said he met plenty of bad guys that he knew were doing crimes just couldn't prove it. Or at least get it taken to trial.

[FourTenJaeger]

Usually? Yes.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/clearances

Robbery in the US in 2012 was cleared by arrest 28.1% of the time. In California in 2012, a bit under half of robberies were committed by perpetrators with some kind of weapon (28,859/55,901 listed as 'strongarm").

Thanks for the table.

Auto theft has the lowest clearance rate, I'll go out on a limb and say 9/10 offenders get away with auto theft.

[CBR_rider]

Thanks for the table.

Auto theft has the lowest clearance rate, I'll go out on a limb and say 9/10 offenders get away with auto theft.

Part of the problem with auto theft (at least in my area) is that a relatively small number of crooks are responsible for almost all of the auto thefts. We generally know who they are, but it is very hard to actually pin them to each/every case and thereby "solve" the crime. Its not uncommon to arrest guys/gals with more than 50 thefts under their belt in the past few months but they usually only get charged in a few of the cases (fingerprints, caught in the car, etc).

I wouldn't say auto thieves get away with the crime per se, but they might get "off" compared to the total number of crimes they have committed as compared to the ones they are convicted of.

[FourTenJaeger]

Part of the problem with auto theft (at least in my area) is that a relatively small number of crooks are responsible for almost all of the auto thefts. We generally know who they are, but it is very hard to actually pin them to each/every case and thereby "solve" the crime. Its not uncommon to arrest guys/gals with more than 50 thefts under their belt in the past few months but they usually only get charged in a few of the cases (fingerprints, caught in the car, etc).

I wouldn't say auto thieves get away with the crime per se, but they might get "off" compared to the total number of crimes they have committed as compared to the ones they are convicted of.

1% of the population causes 100% of the problems..

A lot of the auto thefts in my area are rings, but a lot are also just ''kids'' stealing cars for a joyride, they dump them *often in my lot* and they occasionally get towed away.

Im not sure what the 'processing' is for a stolen car recovered without a driver and undamaged, if any, but there sure is a lot of hot rides out there.

[CBR_rider]

1% of the population causes 100% of the problems..

A lot of the auto thefts in my area are rings, but a lot are also just ''kids'' stealing cars for a joyride, they dump them *often in my lot* and they occasionally get towed away.

Im not sure what the 'processing' is for a stolen car recovered without a driver and undamaged, if any, but there sure is a lot of hot rides out there.

Yup, its the minority of the population that ruins (or tries to ruin) the lives of those around them. Processing depends on the agency and what exactly type of stolen car it is (or if it was possibly used in some other crime as many stolens are). A carjacked vehicle in which the victim was pistol whipped will be processed different than a Saturn which was stolen/dumped in perfect shape with no other suspect information. It's also amazing how many auto thefts are related to drugs, specifically meth. Sold for money for dope, traded for dope, loaned for dope, stolen to do a driveby over money owed for dope, stolen to rob someone for dope, stolen to rob someone's dope, chopped up and sold for dope, etc.