Mount Prospect police responded about 8:34 a.m. Thursday August 17, 2017 to the Walmart parking lot, 930 Mount Prospect Plaza, to a report of a strong arm robbery that had just occurred. Upon arrival, police officers spoke with a 46 year-old victim resident of Mount Prospect.
The victim said she was loading groceries into the back of her vehicle with her purse sitting in the cart. An unknown male approached her cart while her back was turned and took her purse. The male offender then ran to the front passenger seat of a waiting vehicle parked across the aisle. The victim, realizing someone had just taken her purse, ran after the offender. The victim reached the open passenger door of the car, where she was able to grab onto her purse gripped by the offender. The driver of the getaway vehicle started driving southbound through the parking lot, with the victim still holding onto her purse and the vehicle door open. The victim was then dragged through the parking lot until the offender in the passenger seat let go of the purse. The force involved with the release of the purse and the momentum of the moving vehicle caused the victim to be thrown to the ground. The driver of the offending vehicle fled the parking lot in an unknown direction. The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were not believed to be life threatening.
The offender who took the purse is described as a white male in his early 20’s, wearing a royal blue colored hooded sweatshirt. The second offender, who was driving the getaway vehicle, is described as a white male in his early 20’s, wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt. The getaway vehicle is described as a lime green Ford Focus.
The Mount Prospect Police Department continues to investigate this strong arm robbery and asks anyone who has information regarding this crime to call the Mount Prospect Police Department’s Investigations Section at 847-870-5654. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers of Mount Prospect by calling 847-590-7867 or texting MPPD and your tip to 274637. Tips made through Crime Stoppers of Mount Prospect that lead to the arrest and prosecution of the offender(s) could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
IMPORTANT ALERT …
Cardinal Note: As of June 5, 2013 — up to and including the date of this article — police incidents related to the above police agency are not reported in real time or within a prompt time period. This incident was reported by police approximately four days (about 100 hours) after the crime occurred. Police protecting their realm of investigation and police activity, have chosen to use secret military-grade encrypted radios to withhold their police communications, which were previously open to the public and news media via monitoring of public safety scanning radios — with no known negative results locally.
The delayed knowledge or entirely blacked out knowledge resulting from encrypted police communications may protect certain police operations and investigations, but it also puts the public at risk in situations such as when armed and dangerous offenders are at large and when other similar situations occur, such as when desperate offenders of property crimes are eluding police. In other cases, the delayed or blacked out information inhibits or prohibits the possibility of the public providing early witness accounts before a criminal trail goes cold. Citizens are much more likely to recognize or recall suspicious or criminal activity if they are aware of the criminal incident within minutes or hours of its occurrence. The most serious incident involving dire results would be a trail that is allowed to go cold in the case of child abduction.
The lack of real time information from public police dispatch also weakens an effective neighborhood watch program mostly working to prevent property loss, but also working to prevent possible violent crimes.
Lack of real time information from police dispatch also delays public awareness or eliminates public awareness of general hazards and traffic or other situations in every day living in an otherwise economically thriving community.
Police have alternate ways to transmit tactical, operational or investigative information, while still keeping their main public dispatch channels open for the best balance of public safety and police safety.
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