TigerEROS
May 10th, 2006, 11:07 AM
Trio suspected in seven bank holdups
B.C. robberies well-planned, executed
May 10, 2006. 05:33 AM
STEVE MERTL
CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER—Three boys — two aged 14, the other 13 — were back at home with their parents yesterday after being charged with a string of seven bank robberies that has police and youth-crime experts shaking their heads.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said criminologist Ray Corrado of Simon Fraser University, whose research team has interviewed more than 700 serious and violent young offenders.
The holdups, staged without weapons, apparently were well-planned and executed over a large area, which shows considerable discipline, Corrado said in an interview yesterday.
"The typical youth that engages in this type of serious offence is often impulsive, opportunistic, angry and they typically talk a lot to their buddies and it gets out fairly quickly," he said. "Whereas this seems to have been almost a movie-like mimicking, where they planned and were able to carry it out much like you would see in a prime-time movie or something like that."
The three boys were arrested Saturday after a bank branch in suburban Surrey was held up.
One 14-year-old has been charged with two counts of bank robbery and one of obstructing a peace officer. The other two face one robbery count each.
But RCMP suspect the trio in as many as seven holdups in Surrey, Vancouver and suburban Burnaby over a six-week period, Cpl. Roger Morrow said. They apparently used Vancouver's elevated rapid-transit line to get to bank branches located near stations, and then flee afterward.
"The three were arrested at a SkyTrain location," Morrow said. "This was the method of transportation they were using to get from Surrey to Vancouver to Burnaby."
All three were released into the custody of their families and are due back in youth court on May 24. They have not registered pleas.
Tellers were handed a note in each of the robberies, Morrow said. None of the three Surrey residents has had previous dealings with police, he said.
Morrow said he was speechless when he was briefed on the robbery suspects.
"I still cannot for the life of me comprehend at the age of 13 ... ever considering doing something like this," he said.
Corrado speculated the three might have been living out some kind of adventure.
"Typically, what you find with teenagers and older children, they live often in a fantasy world of video games, movies," he said.
Even more unusual, they kept it up.
"They were able to carry it off successively, not just once or twice where you go, `OK, that was fun, that was a thrill,'" Corrado said. "The fact that they kept repeating it and moving around, not using a gun, it's very clever."
Corrado said he wouldn't be surprised if they were very bright kids, good students. Morrow said police weren't releasing details of the suspects but confirmed at least one boy was doing well in school.
"So it's not a typical case — this one kid, at least what I have been told — of being a schoolyard bully," he said.
Probably one of the boys was the leader, a risk-taker able to bring the others along, said Corrado. They likely didn't understand the real risks and saw the robberies as a game.
"I think you're looking at behaviour here that's more risk-adventure," he said. "If they were serious, they would have had guns."
No matter whom they face, banks treat all robbery attempts the same, said Paul Griffin, Western Canada director of the Canadian Bankers' Association.
"The primary concern is for the safety of the staff and the customers," he said. "That means essentially handing over some money quickly with as little incidents as possible to try to defuse the situation and resolve it and get whoever's involved out of the bank."
The young robbers apparently got away with small, undisclosed amounts of cash.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?????
B.C. robberies well-planned, executed
May 10, 2006. 05:33 AM
STEVE MERTL
CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER—Three boys — two aged 14, the other 13 — were back at home with their parents yesterday after being charged with a string of seven bank robberies that has police and youth-crime experts shaking their heads.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said criminologist Ray Corrado of Simon Fraser University, whose research team has interviewed more than 700 serious and violent young offenders.
The holdups, staged without weapons, apparently were well-planned and executed over a large area, which shows considerable discipline, Corrado said in an interview yesterday.
"The typical youth that engages in this type of serious offence is often impulsive, opportunistic, angry and they typically talk a lot to their buddies and it gets out fairly quickly," he said. "Whereas this seems to have been almost a movie-like mimicking, where they planned and were able to carry it out much like you would see in a prime-time movie or something like that."
The three boys were arrested Saturday after a bank branch in suburban Surrey was held up.
One 14-year-old has been charged with two counts of bank robbery and one of obstructing a peace officer. The other two face one robbery count each.
But RCMP suspect the trio in as many as seven holdups in Surrey, Vancouver and suburban Burnaby over a six-week period, Cpl. Roger Morrow said. They apparently used Vancouver's elevated rapid-transit line to get to bank branches located near stations, and then flee afterward.
"The three were arrested at a SkyTrain location," Morrow said. "This was the method of transportation they were using to get from Surrey to Vancouver to Burnaby."
All three were released into the custody of their families and are due back in youth court on May 24. They have not registered pleas.
Tellers were handed a note in each of the robberies, Morrow said. None of the three Surrey residents has had previous dealings with police, he said.
Morrow said he was speechless when he was briefed on the robbery suspects.
"I still cannot for the life of me comprehend at the age of 13 ... ever considering doing something like this," he said.
Corrado speculated the three might have been living out some kind of adventure.
"Typically, what you find with teenagers and older children, they live often in a fantasy world of video games, movies," he said.
Even more unusual, they kept it up.
"They were able to carry it off successively, not just once or twice where you go, `OK, that was fun, that was a thrill,'" Corrado said. "The fact that they kept repeating it and moving around, not using a gun, it's very clever."
Corrado said he wouldn't be surprised if they were very bright kids, good students. Morrow said police weren't releasing details of the suspects but confirmed at least one boy was doing well in school.
"So it's not a typical case — this one kid, at least what I have been told — of being a schoolyard bully," he said.
Probably one of the boys was the leader, a risk-taker able to bring the others along, said Corrado. They likely didn't understand the real risks and saw the robberies as a game.
"I think you're looking at behaviour here that's more risk-adventure," he said. "If they were serious, they would have had guns."
No matter whom they face, banks treat all robbery attempts the same, said Paul Griffin, Western Canada director of the Canadian Bankers' Association.
"The primary concern is for the safety of the staff and the customers," he said. "That means essentially handing over some money quickly with as little incidents as possible to try to defuse the situation and resolve it and get whoever's involved out of the bank."
The young robbers apparently got away with small, undisclosed amounts of cash.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?????