A 28-year-old man was arrested following an aggravated robbery in Canberra’s north last night (Monday, March 26).
About 7.30pm a woman was leaving the Florey Shopping Centre when she was approached by a man. The man demanded cash while pointing a knife towards the woman. The woman handed the man a sum of cash after which he walked back towards the shopping centre.
A short time later police attended the Florey Shopping Centre and located the alleged offender. He was subsequently arrested and taken to the ACT Watch House.
He will face the ACT Magistrates Court today where he will be charged with aggravated robbery and possess offensive weapon with intent.
[Courtesy ACT Policing]
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CCTV achieves nothing but providing a blurry pic or two after the event. Cameras are easily defeated by either covering the face or covering (or damaging) the camera itself.
VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :
I loved this so very much – “lets do this thing” has to be the best thing i have ever read, im going to make sure i use it in a sentance soon haha – is this a scene from that Renegade show? hah
Chop71 said :
Crooks don’t care about cctv cameras, otherwise there would be no shoplifting.
Chop71 said :
Unfortunately video camera’s as a general do nothing to deter crime, they are an investigation tool at best, not crime prevention.
Look at how many “world stupidest criminal shows” etc. there is on TV.
HD Cameras are more efficient than a security person.
buzz819 said :
Maybe the security guard should have torn off his shirt (revealing rippling muscle), shouted “this time it’s personal” and jumped into a spinning back kick whereby he kicked the knife out of the perp’s hand. Then, with the knife skittering away over the damp cobblestones, said “now the odds are even, sucker – let’s do this thing”, and proceed to launch a series of kicks and open handed blows. The fight ends with a back kick sending the perp into a stack of old cardboard boxes and lying still, but with his eyes very wide. The security guard then says “next time you want to hurt someone, remember this moment”, and strides off toward his shiny Harley Davidson, just as the cops show up.
breda said :
Visual deterrent only I’m afraid. They have pretty much no power to do anything and they’re only there in the hope that a potential offender will consider a softer target instead.
Jethro said :
I would’ve thought it was pretty obvious – to prevent shoplifting and act as a general deterrance. Who knows, maybe the bloke would’ve robbed the chemist if the security guy wasn’t there. In this situation, I’d expect him to call the cops and get as detailed description as he could. He is not equipped to deal with a man with a knife.
Katietonia said :
I agree, but it does leave you wondering what the point of a security guard actually is.
Sure it matters who has the biggest stick, but it matters a hell of a lot more who’s swinging it – General Shepard, CoD MW
TheDancingDjinn said :
that’s assume you can get a few hits before they get close enough.
In MMA, if you’re up against someone who has a reach advantage, you rush them and take the fight to the ground in order to remove that advantage, even if that means taking a punch or two in the process. Same would apply in an ASP vs knife battle.
Speaking as an internet expert. 😉
buzz819 said :
You’re forgetting that an Asp is quite long, it has more reach than someone holding a knife. One swing at the head of said knife holder with just the tip of an asp will cause skull fractures. Thats no fantasy, that just someone having more reach – stabbing someone is something you have to get close to do, and a few strikes to the head with an asp would probably kill the average person before they got close enough to stab you.
Captain RAAF said :
Yeah good work, take a stick to a knife fight.
I’ll put my hand up to go against you and your baton with a knife.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, the real world is a lot different to your keyboard ninja dreams.
Found out about this as a friend of mine was also threatened by this creep!
A major problem for security guards is that they need to be *on* their employers land to be able to do anything legally. This is repeatedly hammered home during security training.
Solution? Well, one option would be that the ACT govt ‘gifts’ lease of road/park space to businesses so that their security guards can enforce safety there.
A better way though, would be that when you get your security licence, you are authorised to enforce security on govt land, so long as you are on duty at a neighbouring private site. Rather than paying guards for this, grant them to travel for free on ACTION so long as they’re in uniform – that costs the govt nothing, gives the guards a valuable perk and makes bus travel safer.
Well, if the security guard can’t actually do anything, except call the cops (which anyone with a mobile would do anyway) – why are they there? What is their role? Serious question.
An ASP baton (qualified BTW) over the forearm will soon see the knife on the ground, where sometimes, they have been known to rebound off the ground and end up in the perps neck..
Why should a security guard be expected to attempt to restrain someone with a knife, or even remove it from them, when not even armed and trained police do that. The cops will shoot a person dead before they attempt to remove a knife from them so what was this security guy meant to do?
MrMagoo said :
The security guard is paid for by the Florey Chemist. He’s there daily from 5pm until they close at 9pm.
No security guard with half a brain is going to go and tackle someone waving a knife around. That is simply not what they are paid to do – agreed it sounds like the guy was slacking off on the job, but there’s not much more a guard is going to do in this situation than call the police and yell at the offender to f**k off.
It’s absolutely absurd to expect that an unarmed security guard on $20 an hour is going to be running around tackling armed crims using the skills and knowledge gained from a week-long cert II course when the police themselves wouldn’t be approaching the guy without firearms at the ready.
Erg0 said :
My understanding was the security guard was put in place after a spate of incidents at Florey shops. I believe (stand to be corrected) that his tenure is at the behest of the shop owners/lease holders of the Florey Shopping Centre as a whole.
In sayng that, if he is to be some sort of deterant, then surely he should act upon seeing someone obviously affected by substances or acting in a manner other than ‘normal’ who it could be conceived poses a threat to publis safety. Surely he has some role, other than dialing the police, cause anyone can do that and doesn’t have to wear a security unifrom.