Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Third Parking Lot Robbery

Thieves targeted a female victim who was loading groceries in her trunk while parked in the lot of 99 Ranch Market for the third robbery in a week. The suspects vehicle pulled up behind the victim and the passenger suspect leaned out of the vehicle grabbing the victim's purse from her arm. The suspects dragged the victim about 30 feet as they drove off before she was able to break free from the purse. The victim suffered minor injuries in the incident but was unable to furnish a good description of the suspects. She did describe the suspect vehicle as a 1980-90's burgundy vehicle, possibly a Buick Century.

APD is investigating two other robberies occurring at this location where the suspect vehicle was described as being maroon or burgundy in color. The first occurred on January 20th and the second happened on Friday, January 22nd. Anyone with information is asked to call APD Detectives at (626) 574-5160.

6 comments:

Unknown said...
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APD Sarge said...
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APD Sarge said...

Steven,

Your vehicle was reported to a different agency so I can't speak for them, but I will comment on normal procedures for us...once the report is filed, the vehicle is entered into a database that can be accessed all over the state and nation. If the plate or VIN is run by LE, it will return as stolen. The same goes if it is picked up by a plate reader equipped unit.

Follow-up on every GTA would be very labor intensive without suspect or solid information to investigate. Many cars that are taken are not recovered unless equipped with tracking devices. Cars may be parted out, shipped out of state or country or used for transportation and later "dumped"...

It is frustrating from an owner's perspective, but continue to be proactive. If you find a good lead, pass it on to the agency where it was reported. Post the info on blogs or websites for Acura car clubs etc. The more exposure, the better.

Anonymous said...

I support the APOA 100% and thank you for creating this blog.

My question is this: what actions is the APD taking to not only catch the perpetrators of these crimes but to protect the Asian-American residents of Arcadia from property crimes and more importantly, violent crimes?

The elephant in the room is that most likely these crimes involve perpetrators who are INTENTIONALLY TARGETING Asian-American women (specifically Chinese-American and Taiwanese-American). I can only speculate that they a) assume women in this demographic have money, and b) that they will not seek help from Law Enforcement.

All crimes are bad, obviously. But these are particularly despicable because they involve a racial component. As such people in our Asian-American community are now walking around in fear - afraid to buy groceries of all things.

Are we staffing APD at this Ranch 99, or how about the other major Chinese-American centers throughout the city - to show not only our citizens but the criminals that we understand what they are doing and that we will not tolerate it in our city?

I would hope that if ANY group in our city was being targeted, whether it's based on a racial stereotype, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. that APD and the entire City would be willing to band together and help stamp it out.

Thank you for all the work you do on a daily basis and God Bless every APD officer, administrator, and staff!

APD Sarge said...

@ Anonymous...You make several points and raise questions in your comment. On behalf of the APOA, thanks for taking the time to reach out and interact with us. As to the issues that you raise, solving this type of problem does indeed take buy in from not only the police, but also the community and the potential victims. Aside from the standard additional high visibility patrols in the area, there is much that goes on behind the scenes. The latest edition of the Arcadia Weekly has an article that speaks about a meeting held with Asian business owners in West Arcadia last week. The meeting addressed obvious crime prevention measures and also brought along our AMET supervisor, Agent Bruce Smith. His mounted team is conducting additional patrols in the West Arcadia area to supplement patrol staff.

Media exposure has also played a role in alerting the community to the problem. Additionally, you have probably read tips and crime prevention information on this blog as well.

As I said on the outset, I believe that any type of crime issue like this involves much more than just providing additional police resources. The members of the APOA and all our personnel at APD are committed to making our community safe and always working to create a great quality of life environment in Arcadia.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your quick and thoughtful response to my question. I am encouraged to know that APD is taking the necessary steps to outreach with the community that is most affected by the recent spike in crime. The additional mounted patrols, education of business owners, and the helpful tips are much appreciated.

I also 100% agree that it is not only incumbent on our hardworking police officers but also the community members and business members to work together to fight crime.

Specific to the 99 Ranch I believe they should start offering patrons assistance with their groceries, similar to the services at "Western" grocery stores e.g. Ralph's and Vons - to help deter the types of attacks that happened. I can tell you that many 99 Ranch Markets - from San Jose to their Rowland Heights location - have had crimes like this. I applaud every effort APD is making to work with the community to make sure it doesn't happen in our beautiful city.

Again, thank you for risking your life to protect the citizens of Arcadia. It is wonderful to have this tool to talk to you directly.