Fast-food eatery heists on decline

Police figures show two-year decrease in such robberies

A man was arrested Friday, accused of killing an 18-yearold Subway employee during a Feb. 22 robbery. On April 24, two armed men took over a chain restaurant in northwest Houston, robbing customers as well as the business before moving on to do it again at two other eateries within a few hours. That spree began less than an hour after an armed robbery at a Jack in the Box not far away was interrupted by police, leaving one teenaged suspect dead and two wounded.

Despite the alarming headlines recently, Houston police data show that restaurant robberies are less frequent than last year and have steadily decreased in the past two years.

In the first three months of 2017, HPD tallied 52 robberies of fast-food restaurants, down by a third compared to the same period last year, which itself represented a drop from the 121 reported in the first three months of 2015. However, each of the past three years tops the 41 counted in the first three months of 2014.

Police and other experts say many vulnerable restaurants have adopted best practices that deter robbers, reduce their haul and help police catch the culprits.

Two veteran Houston police officers in the robbery division, Lt. Cathy Richards and Senior Police Officer Jeff Brieden, said the decrease may also owe to investigators getting time to track down past perpetrators.

Tactical units on the west and north sides of town have worked with robbery investigators, surveillance images and police data to find robbery rings and their leaders.

“They’ve taken their units to another level in identifying these crews,” Richards said. “I think our guys are doing a really good job over time, taking it slow and gathering all the facts.”

Single enterprise?

The tactical units operate out of patrol stations but don’t have to answer most calls for service, giving them the luxury of time to review suspects’ interviews, do research and gather intelligence. They also can watch over susceptible locations at highrisk hours like 7 to 10 p.m., when Brieden said nearly half of restaurant robberies happen.

Richards said many robberies can be traced back to a single enterprise whose mastermind rarely or never participates in the actual holdups.

For example, police in recent years figured out that a surge in robberies of mobile-phone stores mainly owed to just two criminal organizations whose leaders recruited teens to do the work, she said. Arresting the organizers helped stem the tide of such robberies.

However, the decrease in Houston could mean that more robbers are striking in Harris and Montgomery counties outside of city limits. To combat that balloon effect in which crime is squeezed into other nearby areas just outside the city, Richards said HPD formed a task force last year to cooperate with the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office.

Robbers may also be deterred by measures that more restaurant owners have adopted in recent years. Most fast-food restaurants now use surveillance cameras; many keep a minimum amount of cash on hand or decline to accept bills larger than $20; some will immediately drop any large bills into a time-delayed safe visible to anyone casing the restaurant as a possible target.

“I think the secret is if, in some way, you can communicate to these robbers before they pull their guns that there’s very little money here, there’s less risk of a robbery,” said Chris McGoey, a California-based security consultant who has worked with chain stores.

Surveillance cameras should be prominent, even if it may undermine the image that restaurants want to convey, said McGoey, who runs the “Crime School” website and podcast.

He also suggested posting signs that explain the cash-handling rules, such as not accepting large bills. Still, it’s hard to deter every robber from every restaurant.

“It’s largely a cashbased business, it’s open late hours if not 24 hours, and they’re often located along major freeways for convenience’ sake,” he said. “What makes it convenient for the customer also makes it good for armed robbers.”

In a review of news reports and Houston police data, one restaurant chain stands out as suffering far more robberies than any other: Subway. Of 37 robberies at fast-food restaurants in the Houston area in the last six months, 10 were Subway.

“I hate to pick on Subway, but they’ve been one of the most-robbed franchises for four decades,” McGoey said. “It’s a small store, (and) they’re usually in small shopping centers. You can park your car and see through the front.”

The small shops usually just have one or two employees on duty, and robbers can exit quickly, McGoey said. It’s easy to find a comfortable routine.

The sandwich shop’s popularity owes at least in part to its market dominance. Last year the chain had 27,000 franchises in the United States, according to industry magazine QSR — more than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. Still, the chain was overrepresented even given its numbers.

Subway restaurants are owned by franchisees, but the franchisees’ association directed questions to the corporate headquarters, where a spokesman declined to make any official available for an interview.

“The safety and security of our guests and the restaurant employees is very important to us,” the spokesman said in an email. “Subway makes extensive safety and security training available for franchisees to use.”

‘They all get caught’

In addition to training from parent companies, restaurant owners turn to local business groups and nearby police, said Melissa Stewart, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association.

Stewart said the most proactive owners get to know the officers who patrol their area and ask them to check that security cameras are deployed effectively.

Because of security measures like time-delayed safes, Stewart added, “Anybody who thinks this is going to be an easy path to cash needs to know that that is not correct.”

The officers in HPD’s robbery division said such tactics have made restaurant robberies less profitable, which might deter first-time perpetrators from making a habit.

“They’re not making out with what they think they’re going to make out with,” said Brieden, who’s spent nearly a decade in HPD’s robbery division. “And eventually, they all get caught.”

Surveillance video and images often draw tips from the community — sometimes even from the perpetrators’ friends and families. Sometimes people call Crime Stoppers for the reward money. But other times it’s worried relatives.

“You’d be amazed at how many moms call,” Brieden said.

Overall, the officers and experts said that restaurant robberies remain uncommon, especially the takeover-style holdups that also target customers.

“It’s still a very rare and infrequent event,” Stewart said. “When we have one that’s as dramatic as we had this week, it makes us think we have them all the time, but we really don’t.”