By Lance Smith, Erin Louis, Letitia Preston

The incidence of service station armed robbery has steadily increased over the past decade. This paper examines the incidence of armed robbery at service stations and profiles the offenders involved.

The incidence of service station armed robbery has steadily increased over the past decade. Using the Australian Institute of Criminology's National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program (NARMP) data, this paper examines the incidence of armed robbery at service stations and profiles the offenders involved. The NARMP data shows that about one in ten armed robberies in Australia were of service stations, and that these were more likely to be targeted at night by lone offenders using knives. The most common item stolen was cash, with an average value of $643. The relative youth of the offenders — on average 23 years old — and infrequent use of firearms suggests the armed robberies involved little if any planning. This opportunistic targeting of service stations has been attributed to their extended opening hours, their sale of cigarettes and other exchangeable goods, their high volume of cash transactions and their isolation from other businesses. Widespread adoption of crime prevention measures by service stations, such as transfer trays, could help reduce their risk of being robbed, but the paper cautions that displacement effects should be considered prior to the implementation of new countermeasures.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009. 6p.

By Georgina Fuller

In this paper, four armed robbery profiles have been constructed, based on information contained in qualitative police narratives supplied as part of the AIC’s National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program.

In 2010, approximately 5,000 individuals and organisations reported being the victim of armed robbery. After assault and sexual assault, armed robbery is the third most common violent crime reported; a trend that has remained consistent over the last 10 years (AIC 2013). However, armed robbery is unique when compared with other types of violence due to its overlap with property crime. Specifically, while armed robbery involves the use or threat of force or violence, the primary purpose is to deprive the individual or organisation of their property (Pink 2011). A such, an incident of armed robbery can have both immediate and long-term psychological and economic ramifications for the victim. Therefore, the prevention of armed robbery remains a key focus of business groups,as well as law enforcement agencies.

Previous profiles of armed robbery have almost exclusively focused on the offender. Research conducted in Australia and overseas has examined the characteristics and motivations of offenders in order to explain the variations in robbery (see Gabor et al. 1987; Matthews 2002; Mouzos & Borzycki 2003; Nugent et al. 1989; Walsh 1986). However, while such an approach has merits as an investigative tool, it is limited in its presentation of armed robbery more generally. Specifically, these profiles fail to appropriately capture the influence of the environment and the victim on the offender. It would therefore be useful, when looking to prospectively prevent crime, to broaden this focus and incorporate not just the offender but also vulnerabilities associated with particular victims and/or locations.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2014. 8p.

By Jenny Mouzos, Carlos Carcach

This analysis of 16,235 records relating to armed robbery in Australia between 1996 and 1998 finds that there were no differences in the type of weapon used by an offender of armed robbery based on the type of victim selected, whether an individual or an organisation; generally, knives were used most often to commit armed robbery, although when the target was a bank, credit union or building society a firearm was more frequently used; and there were no differences in the type of weapon used according to gender and age of offenders.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001. 54p.

By Stephen Nugent, Douglas Burns, Paul Wilson and Duncan Chappell

One hundred and ten convicted robbers, both male and female, were interviewed in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland; additional perspectives were sought from robbery victims, police officers and bank security staff. Information collected from the robbers focussed on one particular robbery, and covered the following topics: . their modus operandi; . their assessment of security arrangements, including police activity; . the likelihood of crime being shifted to other areas if the banks become too tough a target; . their progression in crime; . their attitudes to staff, customers and hostages; and . their reaction to punishment and penalties.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989. 150p.

By Richard Wright and Scott H. Decker

This book describes and interprets urban, predominantly African American, street robbers, and their daily lives and crimes.

The book is based on interviews with active armed robbers to determine their motives and needs, and attempts to shed new light on the process of committing armed robbery. Unlike previous studies, which focused on the often distorted accounts of incarcerated offenders, this work presents the results of field research on the streets of St. Louis. By examining how active armed robbers interpret their circumstances and prospects in the situation of real stickups, the book attempts to determine: what makes a person put a gun next to the head of another human being and demand money; why persons decide to commit armed robberies; what it feels like to participate in an armed robbery; why armed robbers target certain victims; and how armed robbers get their victims to obey commands. The book suggests measures to prevent armed robbery, including job creation, deterrence and incapacitation, reducing victim vulnerability, and situational change

Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997. 172p.

By Roger Matthews

Despite the significance of armed robbery in the criminal justice system, the media and in the public mind there has been little systematic research or writing on the subject beyond the popular accounts. In both the USA and the UK there remains a large gap in the literature on the subject, which this book aims to fill. It provides a comprehensive account of armed robbery, based on extensive research with 350 armed robbers in prison, and on work with two police armed response units Despite the significance of armed robbery in the criminal justice system, the media and in the public mind there has been little systematic research or writing on the subject beyond the popular accounts – from the Metropolitan and South Yorkshire Police.

London; New York: Routledge, 2013. 224p.(Reprint of Willan Publishing, 1996)