Why are there so many murders, drug cases, gang crimes, DUI fatalities, violent cases bank robberies in Humboldt County?
In Humboldt County, you seem to never be disappointed if you are expecting a crime spree. The only question is what will be the new crime du jour, and where will it hit, and who will be affected? (Also: Will the culprit[s] ever be brought to justice and actually punished?)
The list above is just a sampling of crime sprees (or continuous criminal activity if you will) that keep on affecting Humboldt County. For a while there was a serious backlog of murder cases. It appears that a dent is being being made in that backlog – although it is logistically challenging to reduce the size of the backlog if new murders occur at the same or faster pace than the older ones are being adjudicated. It always takes a long time to handle these cases in court, even though it took very little time to actually commit the murder.
Clearly there has been a rash of bank robberies lately. Most recently, at the time this column went to print, there was a robbery of the Coast Central Credit Union inside the Bayshore Mall. That can only be described as a brazen crime (and a very risky one) because once you exit the credit union you are still in the mall proper. Then you need to get through the parking lot. You are of course near Devil’s Playground, and law enforcement actually believed that the suspect ran toward that location, however EPD was not there doing one of their numerous homeless encampment sweeps, so the suspect was not caught.
Due to the fact that bank robbers typically can leave fingerprints or are often caught on surveillance camera, this particular crime has a much higher “clearance (or solveability) rate” than other crimes, such as auto burglaries. If you have had that happen to you, and you did not catch the person in the act, you might as well give up. I know I have been a victim myself.
[Ed. note: Mr. Dollison filed this column just before the suspect in both this and the previous bank robbery, at US Bank in Henderson Center, was apprehended last night.]
By the way, I am not suggesting that these bank robberies are being committed by the homeless folks who have stayed at Devil’s Playground. In fact there is ample evidence to indicate that homeless people who might typically have drugs and weapons charges generally do not commit brazen violent types of crimes like this. (Yes, by legal definition bank robbery is a violent crime in California even if a weapon was not used.)
This basically occurred at a time when EPD was effectively renting itself out to the Bayshore Mall at a cost of about $50 an hour, by beefing up the EPD presence. This agreement was widely panned, because it appears that a public force that is required to protect everybody (including the mall businesses) can be focused on a specific location for specific times, as long as there is a very specific fee paid to the potential detriment of other people. It was also curiously timed with the release of Paul Blart Mall Cop 2!
This bank robbery occurred just as the ink was drying on the reports of another bank robbery, this one at US Bank in Henderson Center. (A bank I sometimes frequent.)
There is an old urban legend: Aa famous bank robber by the name of Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, and he responded, “because that is where the money is!” It is debatable whether or not Mr. Sutton actually said that (Snopes.com said he didn’t), but the saying has grown in stature, and can often be referred to as Sutton’s Law. Whether or not he said it, it is undeniable that the factual hypothesis is very much true.
Although as we all know in Humboldt there are many other entities that operate extensively with cash. I’ll leave it to your imagination which ones I am talking about.
There was another bank robbery about a year ago. That was at the Chase Bank in Eureka. That suspect was actually caught within a matter of hours (and with cash in his pocket.) Surveillance camera footage helped solve that crime.
Not quite a robbery, but a burglary anyway, occurred at the US Bank in Ferndale. That happened about 2½ years ago. The culprits were found inside the bank when the bank was supposed to be closed. Apparently looking for toasters!
Around the time of the McKinleyville robbery, a bank was robbed in Arcata. A suspect that was connected to both was eventually arrested and was dealt with federally. He was also accused of robbing banks in Oregon.
According to the FBI in 2011, there were some 5,000 bank robberies in the entire country. I will leave it to the statisticians to determine if there are more or less here in Humboldt County, based upon our population, from the six in about two years that I have identified. I am sure that I am missing some. Nonetheless it seems like a lot, and the community is rattled when these crimes happen, because we all go in banks.
B of A branches in Eureka and McKinleyville are safe, as they closed down, but there is still a B of A in Henderson Center.
What is fascinating is the discussion of why they are occurring. I actually read some of the comment thread from the CCU robbery, and a mini-debate broke out among folks who were essentially arguing that banks screwed the American economy, and thus they have what is coming to them. There has been much that has been written about this subject. The subprime mortgage crisis did happen, and I have always said it took a perfect storm of irresponsibility by all three groups — the banks, the people who borrowed, and finally the government. If any had acted responsibly then the crisis and meltdown of the American economy might never have happened.
Even here in Humboldt County a courthouse protester was making this very same argument from our YouTube legend of lore, “Who pooped and peed on the bank?”
I have noticed that in previous articles of mine, or in general ones on crime, there is always a solid commenter thread that the poor economy, poor wages, terrible opportunities and the controlling large multi-national corporations are responsible for some folks resorting to crime to survive.
An opinion that has lots of evidence and factual support as well as sociological studies to back it up. Perhaps for another piece.
But for now, I am glad that I have accounts with banks that I can use my trusty iPhone to take a picture of a check … and voila, it is deposited. In fact, before I wrote this piece, I went into a bank where there were normally lots of people, but this day there were only bank employees. It was a little eerie. On Fridays that is rarely true, but bank robberies like the one in McKinleyville that did involve a weapon, or just threats that tellers don’t know whether or not are true can be frightening incidents for the bank’s employees. They do not deserve robberies…or to have their buildings be pooped and peed on!
If after reading this, you are complaining that I have not offered solutions on how to reduce bank robberies, that is probably fair comment. (Most banks resort to hiring uniformed security personnel. That is one way.) Oh, here is absolutely what will not reduce bank robberies: Slashing the EPD budget and reducing officers, as it appears that the City of Eureka is considering.
Or was that Measure Z tax measure really for the zoo, as some commenters on this blog said?
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Local attorney Allan Dollison op-eds about crime, punishment and other legal issues for the Outpost from time to time.
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