Next week the kanadian kops will tell would be victims of rapists: "Just lay back and take it, you may enjoy the experience."

[url]www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-05-18-0011.html[/url]

Friday, May 18, 2001

                           Corner-store Rambos not the
                           answer

                                By DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON SUN
                             There are better ways of making a living, even at minimum
                           wage. Still, when you hold the staff record for most times
                           robbed, you can't help but feel a modest glow of pride for
                           every month you tough it out.

                           Maria's been toughing it out for seven years. "It's kind of a
                           scuzzy neighbourhood," she said yesterday, getting ready to
                           start yet another night shift behind the scarred Formica
                           counter at a downtown gas bar.

                           "Mostly druggies, transients, hookers and mooches. We've
                           seen it all. People come in here covered with blood all the
                           time. I've been robbed four times. Nothing fazes us."

                           Nothing much - not after last week, when a would-be
                           robber came into the shop and spritzed one of Maria's
                           co-workers in the face with what the bandit claimed was
                           AIDS-infected blood.

                           That one got away empty-handed. Most who come into the
                           shop looking for an easy score wind up disappointed.
                           There's a metal pipe and a crowbar under the counter, for
                           emergencies. The till's usually got $30 in it, tops, and
                           Maria's not giving it up without an argument.

                           "The first time I got robbed, he came in and showed me a
                           crowbar under his jacket and said, 'Gimme the money,' "
                           she said. "He seemed OK, no real threat, just desperate for
                           a fix. I said I wasn't going to give him money for drugs. I
                           gave him a pack of smokes and he left.

                           "The last one, he had a gun. Or it looked like a real gun to
                           me. I wasn't going to test it out. He got $65."

                           Hardly a Brinks job, but then convenience store robberies
                           tend to be underplanned exercises born of desperation.

                           Since the start of the year, Edmonton's seen 50 bank
                           robbery attempts and a whopping 175 "commercial"
                           robberies - the vast majority of those aimed at gas stations
                           and corner stores.

(continued)


                           Most clerks, when facing an anxious man with a knife, will
                           empty the till without a murmur. But despite repeated pleas
                           from city police for convenience store staff to avoid acts of
                           heroism, some can't resist the temptation to play Dirty
                           Harry.

                           "I wasn't even looking at him when he came into the shop. I
                           was on the phone," said the owner-operator of a south-side
                           corner store. He's originally from the Middle East, a
                           neighbourhood known more for sniper attacks and car
                           bombs than corner store raids. He'd rather not see his name
                           in print.

                           "The man was wearing a knithood over his face. He was
                           bigger than me," he said. "He had a hammer and he started
                           smashing up the lottery display, screaming, 'Give me the
                           money!'

                           "I froze for a few seconds. I gave him some of the money in
                           the till, not all of it. He said, 'Give me the rest.'

                           "I was relaxed at that point, and I thought, 'He is the weaker
                           man, the coward. I am the stronger.' I grab the hammer
                           from him and I say, 'I break your head!'

                           "Why do the police say not to fight back when I am
                           robbed? They are encouraging people to rob me, telling
                           them that no one will put up a fight."

                           Actually, the cops have three very good reasons for urging
                           clerks to co-operate with armed thieves.

                           1. It keeps them alive.

                           2. Dead clerks make poor witnesses.

                           3. If Edmonton's corner store clerks decide en masse to
                           start waving crowbars in the face of every bandit with a
                           knife, the bandits are going to start coming back with guns.

                           "If you know you're going to be resisted, maybe you're not
                           going to hit the place pretending you've got a gun in your
                           pocket," said Edmonton Police Service spokesman Wes
                           Bellmore. "Maybe you're going to bring a real gun next
                           time."

(continued)


                           Actually, the cops are in a bit of a bind. They don't want to
                           encourage random Ramboism, but they can't ignore
                           conspicuous acts of bravery. The Edmonton Police
                           Commission hands out civilian awards annually to people
                           who help police to break cases and save lives. Not a few of
                           those plaques go to people who thwart robberies.

                           It looks like a mixed signal. Commission member Dave
                           Ruptash insists it isn't. "We make it clear when we hand out
                           these awards that we don't want people putting themselves
                           at risk," he said. "But they should be recognized for their
                           sacrifices and their efforts."

                           "The plaques tend to go for acts of bravery in defence of the
                           person, not property," said Bellmore. "Who's going to step
                           in front of a knife for $60 of the 7-Eleven's money and a
                           plaque?"