Hero Cops lose bank robber while playing dress-up

burdman30ott6
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

Nobody got shot, the police did their job well on this case...

Seems they could have accomplished that by not getting up that morning given the robber was long gone by the time they got into costume.

Montana
What part of the fact that an armed robber got away didn't make an impression on you? THAT was their job, not this fashion show....

What part of bank robbery being a federal offense, the investigation and persecution of which is automatically handed over to federal law enforcement (the FBI, mainly), was lost on you? Protecting the citizens of the community and maintaining order are the primary duties of city police. Both of these tasks were fulfilled. I fail to see how a shootout inside the bank or a car chase down a city street meets either of those goals (unless, of course, the perp was already in trigger happy mode, which doesn't appear to be the case here.) The police controlled the situation without escalating it. This wasn't a fashion show anymore than you putting on a bike helmet to ride your Huffy to work everyday is a fashion show.

thisguyrighthere
Seems they could have accomplished that by not getting up that morning given the robber was long gone by the time they got into costume.

...would the title of this thread then be "Bank robbed, where were the police?"

Do you realize that the process of incessantly bitching about legitimate police behavior only leads to a general disregard of any negative police bantering by the average American? It's the Boy Who Cried Wolf. There are valid examples of bad police and of disturbing escalation of police flexing and posturing, but pointing fingers at them over something like this makes most people roll their eyes and say "Ugh, here we go again with this $#!7 from the malcontents."

burdman30ott6

thisguyrighthere
Seems they could have accomplished that by not getting up that morning given the robber was long gone by the time they got into costume.

...would the title of this thread then be "Bank robbed, where were the police?"

We know where they were while the robber fled. Dressing up in multicam face masks and ghillie suits to stand behind white cars in downtown Palm Springs. ETA: sorry, don't want to forget the two foot tall decorative shrubbery they could be hiding in.

I believe that's what these "operators" refer to as "low speed, high drag."

Maybe they were out training in the swamps when they got called and didn't have time to change. Could happen.

What worries me more than this photo is the way some people respond to things like this.

burdman30ott6

Montana
What part of the fact that an armed robber got away didn't make an impression on you? THAT was their job, not this fashion show....

What part of bank robbery being a federal offense, the investigation and persecution of which is automatically handed over to federal law enforcement (the FBI, mainly), was lost on you? Protecting the citizens of the community and maintaining order are the primary duties of city police. Both of these tasks were fulfilled. I fail to see how a shootout inside the bank or a car chase down a city street meets either of those goals (unless, of course, the perp was already in trigger happy mode, which doesn't appear to be the case here.) The police controlled the situation without escalating it. This wasn't a fashion show anymore than you putting on a bike helmet to ride your Huffy to work everyday is a fashion show.

Let me see if I understand your logic here.

A bank is being robbed, and the local police are prevented from responding to the actual crime, and their job is to stay out of it in an effort to protect the people outside the bank and sit and wait for the Feds to arrive? And, if there is shooting inside the bank, they do what? Stay outside to protect the community and say "screw the people inside, not my job"?

At least that is what your response here translates in my head. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

burdman30ott6


What part of bank robbery being a federal offense, the investigation and persecution of which is automatically handed over to federal law enforcement (the FBI, mainly), was lost on you? Protecting the citizens of the community and maintaining order are the primary duties of city police. Both of these tasks were fulfilled. I fail to see how a shootout inside the bank or a car chase down a city street meets either of those goals (unless, of course, the perp was already in trigger happy mode, which doesn't appear to be the case here.) The police controlled the situation without escalating it. This wasn't a fashion show anymore than you putting on a bike helmet to ride your Huffy to work everyday is a fashion show.

They controlled the situation? How?

The situation was controlled when the robber walked out of the bank with the money, and the fashion police didn't even see him.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Later it was report that the ghillie suited cop asked his partner, "Can you see me now"?
I wonder if he was also wearing his lucky charm?
Maybe he was participating in a jungle warfare drill and did not have time to change?
Surprised someone did not mistake him for a sasquatch.....DUH

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I got to go with burdman30ott6 on this and there were shrubbery and trees near by so it was not totally useless. And storming the place and drawing out a gun fight usually leads to people being shoot like say those who may happen to be in the bank, or the police and swat themselfs.

But saying that, there are better options for urban camo then the ghilie suit. Check this vid out its pretty funny but does have some interesting camo ideas even if its for lol purposes, its in German but anybody can get what its about. Dressing up in bags of chips may not have worked for this situation but if there was a shootout in a convenience store it would definitely be better camo, at the 4:05 min part the girl even dressed up in a garbage bag and was laying around in a crowded area and nobody seemed to notice unless she made it obvious. If anything that or something like that would have made better camo gear for such a situation. You can dress up as a garbage bag, or even as a garbage can and just move in right next to the bank were you would have a clean view of what is in there, and I dont think anybody in there including the perpetrator would think or look twice at you as long as you moved into the position without first being spotted. After that you can pretty much pick your shoots, if it came to it.

reply to post by Krakatoa


Actually the normal response to a bank robbery where there hasn't been a report of shots fired IS to form a perimeter around the bank and then try to establish communication with the suspect to negotiate surrender. (In most bank robberies the suspect does not shoot anyone)

This is due to the fact that if we storm in and a shootout occurs the likelihood of an innocent being injured is extremely high in the design and space of an average bank.

Now if there are reports of an active shooter scenario yes we will "storm" in to stop the threat.

Just because the reported suspect got away doesn't mean we just break down the perimeter and begin looking for him. What if there is another suspect still inside? What if he is hiding or has someone at gunpoint and is instructing them to lie to the police and say there was only one robber and he left? Until we methodically clear the building and deem it safe we will remain on the perimeter. Other units in the city not on scene can begin the search for the escaped suspect.

In my experience the FBI has never responded to the scene of one of our bank robberies while it was in progress. I think they generally file federal charges remotely by piggybacking off of our state charges.

TorqueyThePig
reply to post by Krakatoa

 

Actually the normal response to a bank robbery where there hasn't been a report of shots fired IS to form a perimeter around the bank and then try to establish communication with the suspect to negotiate surrender. (In most bank robberies the suspect does not shoot anyone)

This is due to the fact that if we storm in and a shootout occurs the likelihood of an innocent being injured is extremely high in the design and space of an average bank.

Now if there are reports of an active shooter scenario yes we will "storm" in to stop the threat.

Just because the reported suspect got away doesn't mean we just break down the perimeter and begin looking for him. What if there is another suspect still inside? What if he is hiding or has someone at gunpoint and is instructing them to lie to the police and say there was only one robber and he left? Until we methodically clear the building and deem it safe we will remain on the perimeter. Other units in the city not on scene can begin the search for the escaped suspect.

In my experience the FBI has never responded to the scene of one of our bank robberies while it was in progress. I think they generally file federal charges remotely by piggybacking off of our state charges.

edit on 5-12-2013 by TorqueyThePig because: (no reason given)

edit on 5-12-2013 by TorqueyThePig because: (no reason given)

Thank you for that great detailed response. That description makes perfect sense to describe the images of them deployed and milling about outside. However, I still am stumped over the use of a gilley suit and multicam in an urban environment. That makes no sense at all, IMO, especially given the amount of cover shown is not enough to warrant that type of preparation. It seems tat it was more counter-productive than anything in this particular case.

reply to post by Krakatoa


Well the officers weren't "milling around." They were doing their jobs as perimeter units.

Also to add just because the photos only show officers outside does not mean there weren't any officers inside. Obviously people weren't allowed inside to take photos.

I can agree that camo was not really necessary in this case. Really camo is rarely ever necessary in police work.

TorqueyThePig
reply to post by Krakatoa

 

Well the officers weren't "milling around." They were doing their jobs as perimeter units.

Also to add just because the photos only show officers outside does not mean there weren't any officers inside. Obviously people weren't allowed inside to take photos.

I can agree that camo was not really necessary in this case. Really camo is rarely ever necessary in police work.

Please don't take offense at my use of the phrase "milling around" here, it was not meant as a derogatory slight. There was an image where there were a handful of officers, standing outside the building. In it they look like they are talking casually while waiting for instruction. That is IMO milling about waiting to receive further orders. They were not actively monitoring the building, as some of them had their back to it even.

In your experience you should know there are these times when you sit and mill about waiting for instruction, especially if you were/are in the police or military. It is inevitable, and simply an aspect of the job.

reply to post by Krakatoa


I am so used to being bashed and ridiculed I took it out of context. I guess I am on the defensive quite a bit. My apologies.