Watch the video and determine at what point you KNOW something is going to happen. The comments section will have my breakdown of the video, but add in your observations as you may see something different.
Watch the video multiple times. The goal of the video is to build your file folders for threat behavior, increasing your ability to identify these behaviors in real-time.
Establishment of these File Folders is what will allow you to become effective at Predicting threats before they occur.
Background for Video
On July 1, 2011, at around 3:16 a.m., an African-American male entered a Denny’s restaurant located in the 3700 block of Wilshire Boulevard. Posing as a customer, the suspect walked up to the front counter and placed an order with a restaurant employee. After the cashier opened the register the suspect pulled out a handgun, reached around the counter and started to pull out money and the drawer from inside the cash register. Once the cash and drawer were in his hands, the suspect ran out the front door and into a black, non-descript vehicle and drove east on Wilshire Boulevard.
3 comments
Patrick Van Horne
October 3, 2011 at 12:02 pm
1. Man Comes Into the Restaurant and Moves to the Counter
– He does not pause or look around when he comes through the front door, leading me to believe that he is familiar with the restaurant. This is not sufficient to believe he is a criminal, he could just be a regular, but being familiar with the area that they are conducting their act in is often a trait that criminals seek.
– Hands in his pockets
– He walks in a straight line from the door to the cash register, the logical natural line of drift in this setting. The counter has a proxemic pull to customers coming into the restaurant.
– The video is a little choppy, since it is a surveillance video, but it looks like he is moving with a purpose to the counter, showing mission focus (at atmospheric indicator of his behavior not fitting the baseline).
– This restaurant is a habitual area, meaning that anyone can come or go. He walks to the customer side of the register, which is a habitual area and the employee is on her side of the cash register, which is an anchor point for employees only.
2. Transaction
– As soon as the man shifts the money to his left hand and is about to hand the money to the cashier, he moves his right hand to his waistband underneath his sweater.
– He has his hand on the gun under his sweatshirt for a full 20 seconds while he waits to hand over the money and for the draw to open.
– When his hand is on his gun before he pulls it out, he closes the distance between the gun and the counter top, almost having his waist touch the counter. This is done subconsciously to further conceal his intentions. Before this action, he remains one step away from the counter.
– As the cashier is ringing up the sale with the money in her hand, the man begins leaning over the counter closing the distance between him and her.
– Once he hands the money to the cashier, his gaze never leaves the register and the cashier, showing his absolute interest in the register. This did not fit the behavior he demonstrated up to this point in the interaction.
– The last act that he does before he pulls the gun out is look left and right to ensure that he is alone
3. Man Takes Gun Out Of Pants, Steals Money And Leaves
– Once he pulls the gun, the cashier immediately backs away. She is proxemically pushed from the robber. Her actions are consistent with what I would expect to see from an unsuspecting victim who was surprised by the act. This leads me to believe she did not have prior knowledge of the crime.
– Because he is right hand dominant and needs that hand to take the money, he puts his gun down while pocketing the cash. This may be due to his confidence in there being no threat to him, but could provide the opportunity to stop the robbery if someone was prepared.
– Despite taking all of the money out of the drawer, he makes the mistake of taking the empty cash drawer with him out of the restaurant. An obvious indicator that he took part in a crime.
Cpl. Rafael Cruz
December 9, 2011 at 7:19 pm
The man came in with an intention at first, he walked in with a long stride showing some type of urgency, then you can later on see how he is submissive when he is looking for the money, making her believe that he is harmless and all he wants to do is order. Also you can see a sign of discomfort as he walks, most men have a good stride when walking, but his is not an open leg walk, even people from a broke down neighborhood can see that as they say “he is packing some heat” under his clothing. Later on you can see that he is constantly adjusting his pants making it noticable that something is loose, caused because a lot of people can’t help but to build that comfort zone even when in the wrong. In the movie, the first Boondocks Saints, Rocko does the same thing in the scene before he enters the cafe and shoots it up. Readjustments is a sign that your body is not used to something being in your personal space. All these indicators are signs of what most likely some say “A rookie” will do. Now taking the empty tray is dumbfounding, I dont really think you can make money on that unless Walmart is losing money and a cashier might have misplaced theirs.
Patrick Van Horne
December 10, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Great observations. The same observation you made about “readjustments” can be applied to a number of things, in this case he had a gun, but it could have been a knife, a suicide vest or just anything he knows he shouldn’t have. Many cops will talk about how they decide to question somebody they saw on patrol when they observed them “patting” something underneath their clothing. Whether it is called patting or readjustments is irrelevant, but you can tie the concept back to your limbic system and the need for your body to protect those things that could cause you harm, like getting caught by the police carrying a gun in your waistband.