How To Act If You Witness A Street Robbery
What should I do if I witness a street robbery?
If you witness a street robbery actually taking place, the most important thing to do is to dial 9-9-9 and inform the police straight away. That gives us the best opportunity of attending the scene promptly and actually catching the person who's committing the crime. That is by far the most important thing that you should do. In doing that, it's really helpful for us if you stay on the phone and provide us with information around what's happening - so, a description of the person or persons who are committing the offense, clothing that they're wearing, and if they make off, in which direction have they made off – so that, not only can we attempt to save, but we can also go to surrounding areas, which gives us our best chance of catching the offender. So, that is really the most important thing that you should do. Obviously, you're going to be (potentially) faced with that dillema of: "Do I intervene or do I not intervene?" I think the overriding principle has to be that you have to make sure that you don't escalate the situation or actually become a victim of crime and put yourself at danger yourself. And, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but you need to access every situation as you see it, but the overriding principle is don't intervene if there's a suggestion that you are going to put yourself at risk. Again, alerting people to the fact that you're aware that they're committing a crime, again, needs to be adjusted around in doing so, you don't want to intentionally agitate someone and make things worse – or is it, in the circumstances, likely to cause them to panic? the offender to panic and run away. Only you can make an assessment on that with the individual circumstances, but the overriding principle really needs to be phoning 9-9-9 and informing the police to deal with the situation. And, help us by keeping a watch on what's happening. The other principle really is: don't escalate the situation by putting yourself at risk and becoming a victim of crime yourself.
