It was around 9:40PM when we got the call at the house. Suzy and I, and my parents-in-law were all enjoying a late dinner on Christmas Eve at their home. Warm and comfortable, sipping mulled wine, we were interrupted by the ringing phone. The phone call was for my father-in-law (we’ll call him ‘Dan’ to protect his identity), who works at a nearby grocery store as the head clerk. It was the alarm company that monitors the security system for the grocery store. Apparently, the entrance door sensors had been tripped, somehow. According to Dan, this is not uncommon to have false alarms at the store. And so we decided to put our jackets and shoes on and head over to the store to investigate (I offered to tag along so that he wasn’t alone).
Within minutes, we were slowly driving past the front doors of the building, looking for any abnormalities. It was then, when we spotted that indeed the southeast automatic doors were slightly open, maybe an inch or so. Dan remarked that he had locked the secured the doors himself, and this was definitely not normal. We parked and walked up to the front of the store. As we strolled up to the doors, the local police were also starting to arrive. Without touching the door, we notice that the latch mechanism appeared to be intact, but the door itself appeared to be damaged. It seemed if someone had pried the doors apart. But why had they left the doors closed? Did they go inside or were they deterred by the security monitors that are clearly displayed in the front of the store? Instead of investigating any more, we decided it would be safest for the police to do a sweep of the store to make sure that the criminals weren’t still inside. As more policemen arrived, and a K-9 unit, they finally began a sweep of the store. I found all of this extremely fascinating and the adrenaline was coursing through my veins. I barely noticed the cold air of the night as I stood, riveted, watching the police sweep the building.
After about thirty minutes, the police emerged from the front door, after clearing the store. It seems the would-be thieves were long gone. Dan spoke to his manager on the cell phone and subsequently to the police giving a report of the times that the store was closed and when the alarm was tripped. The police evidence officer was on his way, as well as the loss prevention team from the store’s corporate office.
We decided to enter the building and see if we could determine what the robbers had done inside the store. I strolled in after Dan and the police officers and started looking around for anything out of place. The first thing we noticed was the self-check registers. They had been opened and all cash removed at closing time, due to a corporate policy. The doors on the machine were wide open, displaying the machinery inside. The intent was that if any robbers did break into the store, they would not damage the machine trying to get into the cash trays. This policy paid off for the store this night, as the robbers had removed two of the cash trays before realizing that they were empty leaving them splayed on the floor. As we scanned the row of registers, nothing seemed amiss, until I came upon the first register which had the entire cash drawer ripped from the counter, and lay unopened on the floor.
It was at this time when the loss-prevention team arrived at the store to assess the situation. We showed them the damage to the door and the registers. And to my joy, they allowed us to follow them up to the security room where they had a row of monitors and three large digital video recorders. I was in awe of the technology in the room. It was surveillance that would make even a Vegas casino blush. Well, maybe I’m getting a little carried away. But it was very impressive to a novice. The clarity of the digital video was superb and the amount of cameras and angles covered was mind boggling. Based on the time the alarm was tripped, we were able to dial back the video at an instant to the approximate time of the break-in. And very quickly they were able to locate the precise moment that a blue sports car pulled up and deposited two masked men in front of the store.
These guys knew exactly what they were doing. We watched as the two thieves sauntered up to the front of the store with a crowbar in hand. They popped the doors open with surprising ease with one swift move. As they pushed the doors open and stepped inside, we could see that they were wearing black ski-masks which covered their nose and mouths, obscuring their identity. They also wore gloves which would prevent the evidence officer, who was fastidiously dusting for prints at this very moment, from finding any fingerprints of the robbers. Smartly, the sports car which dropped them off also sped away. The loss prevention guy who was working the security systems, said “Maybe we can get this guy’s license plates with the outside camera”. His fingers moved deftly over the controls as he brought up different angles of the outside. Dialing back a few seconds, the main camera out in front of the building just misses the plates on the car. However, interestingly the burglars getaway car driver was very shrewd and drove off into the distance facing the store with headlights on obscuring any chance of the cameras catching the plates. Hopes dashed, the loss prevention guy tried to dial back the tape before the crime occurred to see if the same car could be seen in the parking lot. Sure enough, about five minutes prior, the same car looped around the building, casing the joint. This time it was close enough to get a good view – there may still be a chance they could get the plate numbers.
We continued to watch the video of the robbers as the walked into the store and with the focus of trained criminals, went straight for the self-checkout machines. Since the machines were already open, they easily grabbed the money trays from the cabinets underneath the machine. They quickly realized the trays were empty and then moved along to the cash register. One of the thieves ripped the cash drawer from under the counter. With the locked drawer on the floor, he used the crowbar to attempt to bend open the locking mechanism. Either thwarted by the lock or after discovering the drawer was empty he gave up and both thieves casually walked back to the same door that they had previously pried open. Surprisingly, they made sure the door was as closed as possible before dashing around the back of the building to meet up with the getaway car. What a couple of gentleman. The “Gentleman Robbers”, I will call them. They were in and out of the store within 90 seconds, and though empty handed were focused and professional while doing their work.
And after fixing the lock and securing the store we called it a night and headed back home. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and after another mug of mulled wine we retired to bed and slept so as to allow Santa to come, breach our security and deposit some gifts under the tree. I will not soon forget this Christmas Eve. It was exciting and saddening at the same time.
