Convenience Stores That Have Already Been Robbed Are More Likely to Be Robbed Again

The Trouble of Robbery of Convenience Stores

What This Guide Does and Does Non Cover

This guide begins by describing the problem of convenience store robbery and reviewing factors that increment its risk. It so identifies a series of questions to help yous analyze your local convenience store robbery problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the trouble and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.

Convenience store robbery is just ane attribute of the larger set of problems related to robbery and to commercial establishments. Although all robbery types share some common features, convenience store robbery warrants special attention because convenience stores have special characteristics. Related problems non directly addressed in this guide, each requiring separate analysis, include

Banking company robbery
Break-in of retail establishments
Check and card fraud
Imitation burglar alarms
Gasoline drive-offs
Gun violence
Robbery at automated teller machines
Robbery of taxi drivers
Shoplifting
Street muggings
Theft by employees.

Some of these related issues are covered in other guides in this series, all of which are listed at the end of this guide. For the most up-to-date listing of current and time to come guides, see world wide web.popcenter.org

General Clarification of the Trouble

Most Convenience Stores

Convenience stores are "retail business concern[es] with primary emphasis placed on providing the public a convenient location to quickly purchase from a wide assortment of consumable products (predominantly nutrient and gasoline) and services."1 There are over 135,000 convenience stores operating in the United States, and the number continues to grow.§ An estimated 100 million Americans visit a convenience store on whatever given solar day; each convenience store might serve hundreds, even thousands, of customers daily.two Over fourscore percent of all Americans, because of their busy schedules, prefer convenience stores to supermarkets.3

§ The Middle Atlantic States (New Bailiwick of jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) led the increase in number of stores (ix.8 percent from the previous twelvemonth), although all U.S. regions experienced an increase inside the past year (National Clan of Convenience Stores 2005).

Extent of the Trouble

Convenience shop robberies account for approximately six percent of all robberies known to the police.4 Although this comprises a relatively pocket-sized percentage of full robberies, the problem is persistent. Over the last thirty years, in that location has been footling change in the proportion of convenience store robberies. Still, convenience stores in particular locations tin can be vulnerable to repeat victimization, especially those types of retailers that accept large amounts of cash, low security, and few staff and customers likely to resist.v

The numbers of U.S. convenience shop robberies rose significantly in the 1980s so declined only every bit significantly in the 1990s, a reduction that could be due in part to the development of better crime prevention measures in convenience stores,6 many of which are discussed in the Responses section below.

Echo Victimization§

§ See Trouble-Solving Tools Guide No. 4, Analyzing Repeat Victimization.

Some stores are repeatedly victimized, either by the aforementioned offender or different offenders. Reasons for repeat victimization vary. A successful robber might return to rob the same store again or might tell other robbers near the store. Alternatively, a broad range of robbers might see the shop as particularly attractive or vulnerable.§§ Media accounts may really play up the vulnerability of the store by reporting successful robberies7 and may glamorize the law-breaking, giving would-be offenders the notion that those that "rob with style" don't get caught.viii

§§ Run into the Problem-Solving Tools Guide on Understanding Risky Facilities for farther discussion of why some places are more vulnerable to crime than other similar places.

Interviews with convicted robbers revealed that they often selected easy targets assuming that "victims [businesses] will not install preventative measures to finish them."9 I study of convenience store robbery victims indicates that more than one-half of the respondents reported subsequent changes in store policy or practise after a robbery.ten It was besides found that a shop was well-nigh vulnerable to revictimization inside the first few weeks afterward the first robbery.11

Types of Convenience Store Robbery

Convenience store robberies are classified according to the offender'due south method of operation:12

Straight: Demanding money immediately upon entering a store.
Client: Demanding money some time after entering a store and engaging in the act of making a purchase.

Another perhaps less common type is trade robbery,§ which involves the forcible taking of goods from a store. A college number of employee injuries are reported in trade robberies, as active resistance and confrontation are more prevalent in these situations.13

§ One written report past the Ontario Convenience Store Association found that an increase in trade robberies at convenience stores between 2001 and 2002 was related to college cigarette prices, the existence of illicit markets, and the ease of disposal (Inkster Grouping 2004 [PDF]).

Harms Resulting From Convenience Store Robbery

Physical

Convenience store employees suffer from high rates of workplace homicide, second only to taxicab drivers.14, §§ Customers can also endure injury from offender assaults. Injuries can upshot from an employee'due south active resistance or from the offender's misreading the employee's nervousness or hesitation every bit resistance.15 When faced with an employee who chooses to actively resist and is in a face up-to-face confrontation, robbers may resort to injuring the worker to avoid apprehension. Higher injury rates are consistently constitute to be correlated with measures employees take during the robbery.16

§§ Come across the Problem-Oriented Policing Guide, Robbery of Taxi Drivers.

Economic

Convenience store robberies are not only costly to the workers victimized but likewise to the store itself. Costs include loss of customers who may exist deterred from shopping at a store that has been robbed, leading to a loss of income from reduced customer sales. Stores can also experience an increase in workers' bounty costs and insurance premiums due to the robbery. Unfortunately, for those independently owned stores, losses may be unrecoverable, due to the disability of many small operations to afford insurance coverage.17 Stores that do not accept insurance coverage may be forced to increase prices or potentially shut. Other less direct costs include the various criminal justice activities of state and local governments, including police investigations, prosecutions, and incarceration and supervision of offenders.eighteen

The average cost to employers of a unmarried episode of workplace violence can amount to $250,000 in lost work time and legal expenses.19 Workplace victimizations reportedly contribute to a loss of iii.5 days per employee per criminal offense. Victimization can further limit the ability of these stores to attract and maintain employees for the night shifts, particularly in stores that operate 24 hours a day20 and those with a loftier volume of cash transactions, a characteristic of such stores. The combination of operational expenses and security challenges tin can be financially burdensome.21

Psychological

Victim employees tin also suffer psychological harm.22 "Secondary victimization" can occur when employers, managers, employees, or those responding to the robbery fail to admit the victim'south trauma.23 This may result from not believing the victim's description of the attack, discounting the incident, and blaming or criticizing the victim. Psychological problems resulting from victimization may not only bear upon the employee's subsequent workplace operation, but also tin can touch on the shop's daily operations.§

§ Virtually victims' organizations agree that immediate intervention and support after a victim endures a robbery is beneficial to the victim'due south recovery, yet statistics bear witness that of the 86,000 robbery victims (irrespective of location of victimization) in 1991, only 4 percentage of the reported robbery victims were treated by mental health care providers (National Center for Victims of Criminal offense 1997).

Factors Contributing to Convenience Store Robbery

Understanding the factors that contribute to convenience store robbery volition help y'all frame your own local assay questions, determine skilful effectiveness measures, recognize key intervention points, and select appropriate responses.

Research has identified many factors that influence a robbery's likelihood or outcome. In some cases, the findings are inconsistent or contradictory. This may exist because it can be difficult to interpret studies based on small numbers of stores or difficult to make up one's mind if sure shop features influenced the robberies, or were changed in response to the robberies.24 The factors generally plant to contribute to the incidence of convenience store robberies follow.

Store Characteristics

Operation hours

Operation hours are by far the strongest factor contributing to convenience story robbery, especially for stores open 24 hours a solar day.25 Belatedly evening to early on morning hours carry a greater risk of being targeted, perhaps because fewer people—other customers, police force, or passersby—who might intervene are about.

Interior store layout

Several characteristics of a shop's interior layout tin influence its vulnerability to a robbery. Mutual among these is visibility, from two perspectives. First, employees should exist able to see their surround, and second, people outside the store, including law on patrol, should be able to see into the shop.26 Robbers are deterred past brightly lit stores in which employees and the store's cash registers are clearly visible from the street.27 The superlative and placement of store displays and shelving also determine whether there are unobstructed views inside the store.

Exterior store environment

Visibility is also a cistron exterior the store. Poorly lit gasoline islands and parking lots increment the chances of a robber's selecting a particular store,28 since employees cannot meet what is occurring exterior the store. There is also a human relationship betwixt parking lot size and store vulnerability in that a big parking area in front of the shop reduces the ability of passersby to provide breezy surveillance of the store'south interior and exterior.29 The availability of viable escape routes is also a consideration in determining whether or not a store is a prime robbery target. For instance, poorly designed fencing or landscaping can facilitate a robber'due south quick flight from the store, thereby making the store a more than bonny target.

Location

There may exist a relationship betwixt the location and surrounding environment of a convenience shop and its risk of becoming a robbery target. For instance, one study found that stores located in shopping complexes or strip malls had fewer robberies than those not in more concentrated commercial settings.30 A study of robberies at service stations and pharmacies produced similar findings.31 According to another study, stores in neighborhoods with older buildings and structures, shut to graffiti and subsidized housing, and not located in a shopping center showed an increased gamble of robbery.32

Convenience store type

Convenience stores can be distinguished from other retail establishments by the hours they operate, store size, and products sold. About are open every day until late in the evening, with some open up 24 hours a mean solar day. Some are corporate franchises, others are independently endemic. Single-store businesses that are endemic and operated equally a one-shop business or franchise dominate the market.33

There are generally six convenience store formats. Each is categorized past the size of the store and the products information technology sells, equally shown in Table one below.34

Table 1: Convenience Store Types


Type	Size	Typical Products	Parking
Kiosk	< 800 sq. ft.	Gasoline and "fast-moving" items (tobacco, beverages, snacks, and confectioneries)	Commonly only at the pumps
Mini	800 to 1200 sq. ft.	Limited grocery selection (predominantly prepared sandwiches)	At the pumps and some with striped parking
Express pick	1,500 to 2,200 sq. ft.	Broader product mix and added prepared foods (hot dogs, nachos, popcorn)	Striped parking (with extended hours)
Traditional	2,400 to 2,500 sq. ft.	Expanded product mix (including dairy, bakery, snack foods, and beverages)	6 to 12 parking spaces and pedestrian admission
Expanded	ii,800 to three,600 sq. ft.	Traditional product mix	x to 20 marked parking spaces
Hyper	four,000 to 5,000 sq. ft.	Can include a bakery, restaurant area, or a pharmacy	Multiple parking spaces (normally larger than the expanded store)

Risk of robbery based on a variety of administrative and environmental factors has been proposed. For instance, stores with gas pumps, sometimes referred to every bit convenience gas stations, are less likely to be robbed than stores without pumps.35 Another study has plant that independent stores less than ii years quondam were at higher risk for robbery than older stores that are visitor owned and operated.36

Ownership

The security and crime prevention measures convenience store owners utilize vary considerably with the type and construction of ownership. 7-Eleven, Inc. has its ain security section, policies, and employee crime-prevention preparation program.37 A "mom and popular" endemic establishment would likely take very few resources and less access to current techniques.

Staff number

Several studies have evaluated the presence of two or more clerks to reduce the risk of robbery. The findings take been inconsistent, and are highly debated.38 The 1986 Gainesville, Fla., studies concluded that the number of clerks on duty was a strong predictor of robbery potential.39 All the same, a review of convenience store robberies by the National Clan of Convenience Stores in 1997 did not back up this conclusion.twoscore

Cash-control procedures

The treatment and storage of greenbacks has a significant influence on the targeting of stores for robbery. The Athena Enquiry Corp. studies of armed robbers in 1985 and 1995 have shown that "80 percent of potential robbers can be deterred if a convenience shop limits the amount of money kept in its cash register."41 There are a number of cash-control units available to retailers that have both a drop safe and money dispenser, with various admission methods. Again, both the ability to buy such units and the implementation of strict cash protocol depend on the ownership blazon and structure.

A strict cash control protocol can significantly reduce the chances a shop will exist targeted by potential robbers. Credit: Nancy Leach

Incident response policies

Employers' policies, particularly about firearms in the workplace,§ and various authoritative and ecology measures§§ have an impact on workplace violence and homicide rates.42 Furthermore, the combination of inexperienced employees and inadequate preparation procedures can contribute to higher victimization rates.43 One multistate study constitute that clerks' beliefs might be the most meaning factor in determining the extent of injuries during a robbery.44 For instance, injury can be caused by 2 different offender assaults: theblitz attack, which catches the victim by surprise and is unprovoked past the victim or some other, and theresponse to perceived resistance, which tin consequence from either misreading the employee's nervousness as resistance, or wanting to go far and out of the store as quickly equally possible.45 Employees can, in turn, use certain behavior to keep themselves rubber. This includes post-obit the offender'south instructions, staying at-home and quiet, avoiding eye contact, not making any sudden movements, remaining inside the workplace, not attacking the offender, while making mental notes to provide to the police force regarding the offender'southward concrete description.46

§ 1 written report found that in that location was approximately a "sevenfold increase in the risk of a worker being killed in workplaces that allowed guns," implying that workplaces that answer to a prior feel with offense by allowing firearms may actually be creating a greater chance for workplace homicide by allowing weapons on the premises (Loomis, Marshall, and Ta 2005).

§§ Although some researchers believe that limiting cash on hand to less than $100 could reduce robbery risk and injury rates, other research has found that limiting cash and escape routes can force a robber to accept greater risks, thereby potentially increasing employee injury rates. Other suggestions include installing a visible driblet safe to allow for natural surveillance throughout the store (Faulkner, Landsittel, and Hendricks 2001).

Offender Characteristics

Similar robbers in full general, virtually convenience store robbers are male (95 percent) with almost two-thirds of them nether the age of 25.47 They are often impulsive and opportunistic, and do limited planning before attempting the actual robbery. Most are seeking quick cash, often to buy drugs. A high proportion report that they were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs while committing the robbery.48

Serial robbers, especially those that victimize the aforementioned location on more one occasion, appear to exist more professional, even determined, in their approach. They are significantly more likely to bear a gun, to have been in prison earlier, to clothing a disguise, and to cull a specific fourth dimension for the robbery. They are likewise more than likely to be tearing, and cause a higher rate of employee injury.49 Their robberies display distinct geographical patterns over time.50

Since information technology has been constitute that certain stores are more than vulnerable to repeat victimization, we can conclude that robbers are selecting those stores because of the opportunities they offer for successful completion of a robbery.51 Offenders prefer areas in or nearly their neighborhoods, thus increasing the hazard for those stores in areas where many offenders live.52 Nevertheless, many factors may bear on offender decisions. For instance, since offenders commonly use guns in convenience store robberies, some offenders looking for quick cash may think that a weapon overcomes whatever other obstacles to carrying out the crime. Novice offenders might be less likely to differentiate between low-chance and loftier-risk targets.53 Robbers commonly consider escape routes an important factor in selecting a target. 54

Fourth dimension Patterns

To limit the run a risk of apprehension, robbery offenders generally operate at nighttime, when darkening is more likely. Convenience store robberies take been found to be consistent with this time blueprint. I study of robberies in 30 Leon County, Florida, convenience stores over a 4-year period institute pregnant correlations not only to time but likewise to day of the week, and calendar month. Fifty percent occurred between ten p.m. and 12 a.m., by and large times when business organization traffic is minimal. Three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) accounted for 60 per centum of the robberies. More than 50 percent occurred between November and February, consequent with findings that property crimes occur more than often during wintertime months.55

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Source: https://popcenter.asu.edu/content/robbery-convenience-stores-0