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Service Station Armed Robbery in Australia

NCJ Number
228392
Author(s)
Lance Smith; Erin Louis; Letitia Preston
Date Published
June 2009
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examined the incidence of armed robbery at service stations in Australia and profiles of the offenders involved.
Abstract
Highlights of findings on the incidence of service station robberies include: (1) offenders who robbed services stations had a higher probability of being detected compared with offenders who targeted an individual in a public or residential space; (2) service stations were more likely to be targeted at night by lone offenders using knives; and (3) other commercial locations were more likely to be targeted during the daytime rather than late at night. Highlights of findings profiling offenders who committed armed robberies include: (1) in Australia, armed robberies were committed primarily by men under the age of 35 years; (2) offenders targeted establishments where the victims were not known to them; and (3) as the professionalism of the offender increased, the distance the offender was prepared to travel to commit armed robbery also increased. The incidence of service station armed robbery has steadily increased over the past decade in Australia. To examine service stations as targets of armed robbery and profile offenders, this study analyzed data from the 2006 Australian Institute of Criminology's National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program (NARMP). The analysis used incident-based data only. Figure, table, and references