Takeover Robbers Target Restaurants. In fact, Barone’s was just the latest Los Angeles restaurant to be robbed. While crime continues to fall across the city, police are struggling to contain a sharp jump in armed robberies. Authorities are particularly concerned about a series of takeover robberies targeting restaurants. In the San Fernando Valley alone, upward of 200 have been hit in the last two years. Officials in other parts of Southern California also report an increase in the crime.
Detectives say the holdups are the work of several groups of bandits targeting smaller, sit-down eateries, usually as owners are counting cash at closing time.
[…]
“What we are seeing in some respects is displacement,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger. “It’s more opportunistic hitting restaurants. They see a mom-and-pop restaurant, and that doesn’t come close to being as fortified as a bank. And they take that opportunity, using the same type of aggressive behavior.” [Los Angeles Times]
And how do our lords and masters want to respond? Like this:
The problem has become so severe that Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton and other city officials are supporting state legislation that would give up to two years of extra prison time to robbers who use masks.
Yeah, that will show them. And consider this:
“These robbers are more likely to be vicious to their victims because their identities are masked,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who represents the Ventura Boulevard shopping corridor where many restaurants have been hit.
She may be onto something there. Perhaps she should ask chief Bratton if any of his troops ever mask their identities.
Predictably, nothing in the article even hints at the real solution to this problem. Under California state law, employees may be armed at their workplace with their employer’s permission. Since these restaurants are “mom-and-pop” operations, they don’t have to worry about any distant corporate overseers ordering them to remain helpless.
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