Common reaction to robbery

Robberies may have very adverse effects on a victim. The direct or implied violence may cause personal reactions and feelings that a victim is not used to, regardless of the degree of violence. Victims may personalize the robbery and regard their reactions as unusual. Stress may occur.

REMEMBER: Robberies are abnormal events. Unusual reactions are likely very normal. Your reaction to a robbery may depend on….

1 The suddenness or degree of warning
2 The extent to which your personal safety is threatened.
3 The behaviour of the robbers.
4 The number of previous robberies in which you were involved.
5 Your level of stress prior to the robbery.
6 Your state of physical and emotional health.
7 The amount of support you receive immediate after the robbery.

Source: www.gvpvs.org/content/personal_reaction.pdf

Influx of illegal workers

(Source: The Rise of Crime in Malaysia; An Academic and Statistical Analysis, of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College, No. 4, 2005)

To understand the relationship between the influx of illegal workers and
crime, it would be best to start off with the trends in migrant worker
movements in this country. Unlike in many advanced countries, where international labour migration is concerned with those who migrate for work and permanent settlement, the focus on international labour migration in Malaysia primarily centers on contract labour migrants. These are low-skilled workers who are imported for a short duration on a contract basis to alleviate labour shortages in specific sectors.

One can identify three broad trends in migration worker movements
in Malaysia. The first wave began in the 1970’s. During the initial phase,
migrant workers were mostly employed in the rural plantation sector in small
numbers. The number of migrant workers grew in the late 1970’s and early
1980’s to meet widening labour shortages in agricultural and construction
sectors.

The second wave coincided with sustained high growth since the
late 1980’s. Widespread labour and skill shortages, and escalating wages
drew large numbers of both documented and undocumented workers.
The third phase was a period of stabilization of migrant worker
inflow following slower economic growth and the introduction of severe
penalties for illegal entry and employment. Since 1998, the number of
migrant workers has hovered between 800,000 and 1.2 million, depending
on economic performance. The current estimate of illegal migrant workers
in the Peninsula is about 300 to 400 thousand, or one illegal worker for
every three documented workers.

It is this influx of foreign workers that is perceived by many to
impinge upon public safety and security, as some migrant workers,
particularly the illegal migrants are engaged in criminal activities. The
number of crimes committed by migrants has increased three-fold from
1,333 in 1992 to 3,113 in 2002 (refer to Fig. 12 below). Indonesians, by
virtue of their larger presence committed the most number of crimes (about
62 % of the total crimes committed by foreigners). However, the proportion
of crimes committed by foreigners merely hovers around 2 % of the total
index crimes in Malaysia. On a per capita basis, foreigners on average
commit about 3.8 crimes per 1000 foreign population, whereas Malaysians
committed 5.3 per 1000 population. This goes to show that on a per 1000
basis Malaysians commit more crime than foreigners.

Causal factors for the increase of crime

1. Academic analysis of rise in crime

(Source: The Rise of Crime in Malaysia; An Academic and Statistical Analysis, of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College, No. 4, 2005)

David Downes, in his paper “Why Inequality is still a factor” highlighted the
reasons for the increase of crime and found that increase of crime and
inequality (which are results of unrealizable aspirations) are profoundly
linked. He based his argument on the following:-

The paradox that crime has risen steeply with growing
prosperity but persistent inequality during the post-war periods
in the U.K. only goes to show that when greater affluence is
combined with growing inequality and the rise of what has been
called a winner/lose culture, crime has climbed even more
steeply (James 1995).

• The social control theories by Emile Durkheim and Robert
Merton30, which depended on the weakening moral guidelines
and the blurring of distinction between right and wrong, could
explain the above as unrealizable aspirations that are capable
of generating disillusionment which thus leads to deviance in
general.

• The damage inflicted by the economic changes has also
particularly affected the youth, a minority of young men and
boys under the age of 25, who are disproportionately drawn
from the urban, under-educated, under-employed working
class. Youth and crime are so strongly linked because
adolescence is a limbo between childhood dependence and
adult maturity. Youth with no foreseeable hope of gaining self respect
through regular well-paid work will seek fulfillment
through the manufacture of excitement, thus crime (Campbell
1993)31

• There is also an exceptionally close relationship between
unemployment and crime. For example David Dickinson
(1993)32 found that the rates of burglary were linked closely to
unemployment rates for young men under 25 years. Steven
Messner (1980)33 also found that higher homicide rates were
linked with several indicators of social inequality.

Petrol stations: convenient targets for criminals

http://www.mmail.com.my/Current_News/mm/Tuesday/Hotnews/20080603192022/Article/index_html
Convenient targets for criminals
By REENA RAJ

THE evolution of the lowly petrol station into a one-stop centre for people on the go has led to another development — these stations have become a convenient target for criminals.
Where once it was just a place to fill your tank, these days a petrol station doubles up as a convenience store, where one can withdraw from the ATM machine, get food and use the washroom as well.

With all that and longer stopovers, the owners are not the only ones who recognise that that generates more money.

Which is why these one-stop centres have also attracted the attention of those with criminal intent. There have been enough cases in recent years where people going to petrol stations, especially late in the night or in the early hours of the morning, have fallen prey to thugs and robbers.

In a recent case on Feb 1, a security guard was hit on the head with a gun by one of the robbers who raided a petrol station in Section 27, Shah Alam.

This took place in broad daylight, at 10.20am, during which four men wearing ski masks escaped with three gunny sacks containing RM300,000 that they took from a security van. The five-minute grab-and-run took place when the guards were about to load the money into the ATM machine in the petrol station.

Some of the other incidents include:

● Limousine driver Low Tek Chai, 46, was slashed to death when he fought off robbers who tried to take away his Mercedes Benz while he was refuelling at a petrol station at Batu 4, Jalan Gombak. A passerby found his body, slumped in the back seat of his car. He was believed to have been attacked at about 5.30pm by a lone man armed with a parang.

● On Sept 13, 2006, theatre producer Siti Rohayah Atan, 33, could only stand stunned for 10 minutes after seeing a man run off with a bag containing RM30,000 that he grabbed from her car. She had stopped at a petrol station in Selayang at 2.30pm, to fuel up for a trip to Ipoh, after having withdrawn the money from a bank in Selayang.

Panic button in petrol stations to alert cops

http://www.nst.com.my/Friday/National/2223248/Article/index_html

2008/04/25

Panic button in petrol stations to alert cops

PETALING JAYA: More than 280 Shell petrol stations in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan have been linked to the nearest police headquarters to prevent robberies.
Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the Shell petrol stations were linked to police operation centres and the Rakan Cop alert system."In the event of a robbery, a worker at the station will push a panic button that will alert police in just five seconds."An alert will also be sent to the station's owner and other Shell petrol stations nearby," said Khalid after launching the Rakan Cop Programme for Retail Stations in the Central Region of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan at a Shell petrol station in Persiaran Bandar Utama here yesterday.He said the alert system, developed by Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd, would enable police to respond faster in case of robberies.

Khalid said the system would also alert all petrol stations about possible multiple robbery attempts. "This system will enable us to achieve three things in case of a robbery. Firstly, the chances of nabbing the robbers will be bigger. Secondly, we will be able to interview witnesses at the scene and, thirdly, we can retrieve evidence at the crime scene." He also commended Shell for its efforts in helping police curb crime and called on other petroleum companies to set up a similar system. Shell Malaysia Trading national sales manager Shairan Huzani Hussain said the implementation of the system in the central region was due to the success of its pilot programme in Johor last year."After fitting 120 of our stations in Johor with the system, we saw a 76 per cent reduction in crimes committed at our stations last year compared with 2006. Only four cases were reported last year." Shairan said Shell had trained its station crews on safer ways to handle daily earnings and transporting of cash for 24-hour stations.Shairan said 400 of its 900 petrol stations had enrolled in the Rakan Cop Programme for Retail Stations so far.

See also: Honolulu Crime Stoppers

A lesson from Hawaii: Honolulu Crime Stoppers

http://www.crimestoppers-honolulu.org/

About Honolulu Crime Stoppers

CrimeStoppers Honolulu encourages members of the community to assist local law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime by overcoming the two key elements that inhibit community involvement: fear and apathy.

CrimeStoppers Honolulu provides a secure telephone number and a secure server for Web Tips to encourage citizens in the community to volunteer vital information helpful to law enforcement agencies to fight against crime and to help keep our neighborhoods and educational campuses safe.

Callers can remain anonymous and are eligible to receive a cash reward if the information given leads to an arrest, identification of a criminal perpetrator, recovery of stolen property or seizure of illegal contraband.

CrimeStoppers Honolulu has expanded the program to include affiliated Student CrimeStoppers and Animal CrimeStoppers programs. In these programs calls and information eligible for rewards includes activities occurring on educational campuses that is illegal or disruptive to the educational systems or in the case of Animal CrimeStoppers, any activity that also harms any animal.

Narcotics and Crime

(Source: The Rise of Crime in Malaysia; An Academic and Statistical Analysis, of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College, No. 4, 2005)

Narcotics abuse by individuals has a correlation to the commission of
crime. A local study by Gan Kong Meng61 has shown that drug abuse by
individuals is closely related to property crime. These crimes were further
attributed to sustain their drug abuse affliction. Their involvement in
crime, as shown by Haris Wong in a study conducted on inmates at
Rehabilitation Centers, revealed that 74 % of them went on to commit
crimes to sustain their habits. The other 26 % could sustain their drug problems without committing crimes. Of those who committed crimes the vast majority ( 70 % ) committed property crimes to sustain their habit. The rest committed violent crimes.

Having shown the affinity of drug abusers to crime, the statistics of
the number of registered drug abusers in this country which amounts to
38,67263 is quite daunting if we follow the finding above by Haris Wong that
74 % of them will commit crime to sustain their habits.