Professional criminals show the ineffectiveness of static security risk treatments and situational crime prevention options.
On 30 July 2016, Madura McCormack of the Courier-Mail reported that Queensland police were establishing a Task Force with the aim of capturing two criminals that were believed to be responsible for seven armed robberies across Brisbane. The article comes with CCTV footage that shows one of the attacks against a pub. The article describes the difficulty that police are having in identification, as both the robbers are heavily disguised. The CCTV footage highlights the difficulty that static protective security measures have against the professional criminal.
The Professional Criminal can be defined as the person who takes the time to plan and prepare for their crime. Professional Criminals will also conduct detailed intelligence gathering activities, such as reconnaissance, to gather information about their intended target. By so doing, Professional Criminals often plan methods to defeat implemented preventative crime measures or risk treatment options.
Review of the above mentioned CCTV footage reveals several aspects of the criminals planning, preparation and intelligence gathering activities. Understanding these aspects can provide valuable knowledge to the protective security professional in their attempts to prevent attacks against their organisations.
For example, the robbers seem to be very deliberate in their movements and appear to have detailed knowledge of the layout of the target.
The robbers also appear to know the best time to attack, that is, when there are limited patrons and staff in attendance, but prior to the cash tills being emptied.
The robbers appear to work well together as a team, possibly due to practice rehearsals or the like.
The robbers are intimidating, although they do have a weakness regarding their care of their own weapons.
The robbers have knowledge of where the CCTV cameras are located and take care to avoid being stationary and in direct line of sight of the cameras
The robbers are heavily disguised and thus far have been able to avoid being identified both visually and forensically
When the robbers depart the crime scene, they appear to make a quick and effective ‘get away’
All of these facets highlight the Professional Criminal’s attention to detail in the level of planning, preparation and intelligence gathering that has been undertaken. The above attack also points out the limited value of static protective security measures.
To prevent professional criminal attacks, measures that include counter-surveillance, counter-intelligence, and CCTV that views criminal’s preparation, locations and their possible infiltration and exfiltration routes are required. These measures will identify the criminals in their preparation and intelligence gathering phases of their planned attack. Identification in these phases can provide law enforcement with the opportunity to intercede prior to the planned attack.
Preventing the Professional Criminals attack requires the security planner to literally think outside the box, or in this case pub.
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