Dollar Tree Robberies & the Economy

One of the major insights gained by the Baltimore Homicide Detectives (#) after years of chasing (and catching) criminals is: "Crime makes you stupid." That would be true of the perps they catch ... and the reason that they can catch them.

But there is another group of bad guys who must be smarter than the average street thugs.  That would be the group that is astute enough about our current trodden-down economic climate to put the Dollar Tree (and / or Dollar Store or other "dollar xxxx" establishments) in their sights.  The reasoning must go something like this:  Many people are out of work.  If they don't have work, they don't have steady income (although they may have money from somewhere).  Wherever they are getting money, it isn't enough to feed, clothe and entertain themselves and the ones for whom they are responsible.  And they know that the general public can still get essential items at cut-rate, discount and low-end retail outlets, so that is where a lot of people now have to shop to get some of what they need.

If all these economically-challenged folks are shopping at "dollar" stores and coming out with the goods they need, then they must be leaving what little cash they have with the clerks inside.  Any, as any fool can plainly see, even if they only leave a few dollars, a horde of shoppers can drop a significant amount of cash in a work-day.  Which explains why the robbery rates at cut-rate stores nationwide are going up during this down economy.

Furthermore, these mooks who are bumping off the dollar stores are also smart (maybe not Real smart, but smart enough) to realize that Willie Sutton's law can, in this day and age, refer to the Concept of a Bank, (*) not the actual commercial bank buildings per se.  [Willie robbed banks, so he told the FBI when they caught him, because "that's where the money is."]

From their updated point of view, a "bank" is anyplace sitting on a wad of cash, and today that means dollar stores.  In addition, robbing dollar stores doesn't carry with it the serious Federal charges (*) (minimum: 10 years, maximum: death penalty) that robbing a real bank does.

So, what have we learned from this economics lesson: 1. All criminals are not that stupid; 2. Money flows where people goes; 3. A rose may be a rose may be a rose, but a Bank is not a banque is not a bank; 4. Robbers who used to pull heists at First Federal are now expanding the "Concept of Banking" to include shopping for bargains at cut-rate places and avoiding the Federal charges.

Time marches on!  (Oh, that would be a great name for a newsreel at the local Cine-Plex.)

-------- Afterword -----------
Try this link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=robberies+at+Dollar+Tree

Robber's Rap Sheets: Johnson City, TN (second time in a week); Spartanburg, SC (parollee); Roanoke, VA (two men with firearms: Kshawn Marque Kelly with Decarlos Marchand and a woman, Dominique Montrell); it's a family thing).  [NOTE: "Police responded to the robbery around 10:28 p.m. and said they found the three adult suspects near Sundae Grill within minutes of the crime." (?? Having an after-robbery ice cream??) Maybe Baltimore cops are right.];

Sacramento, CA (described as "an Asian man"); Massapequa, NY, (robbed by a GA man); Xenia, OH (asking specifically for "the night's deposits" ... might as well let the employees scoop up the cash for you, then grab the bag); a second report at another Sparanburg, SC, Dollar Tree store; Fairview Heights, MS; and Newport News, VA, Madison County, AL, Modesto, CA, FL, OH, MD, UT, IL, LA,  on and on ...

Google reports at the top of this search for "robberies at Dollar Tree" 934,000 results in 0.22 seconds.  I decided to not list them all. [NOTE: it would be interesting to take all 934,000 hits and plot them on a US map.  I got the feeling from reading through the Google results that the sites were skewed toward the SE and deep south, but that's just a "feeling," not a statistically-significant comment.]

(#) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_Life_on_the_Street  lots of links to videos, etc.

(*) see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01349.htm
Subsection (f) defines the term "bank." A bank includes any member bank of the Federal Reserve System, and any other banking association, trust company, savings bank operating under the laws of the United States, including a branch or agency of a foreign bank (as defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978), and any institution in which the deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or "FDIC."  Well, it used to, but not so narrowly any more.