Armed Robbery at Mobil Station on West Rand Road Near Kennicott Ave, Arlington Heights

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Arlington Heights police responded about 8:45 PM Friday to an armed robbery at the Mobil gas station, 815 West Rand Road Arlington Heights, IL. Police received a report that an unknown offender displayed a handgun and demanded money from the employee. The subject is described as a black male, dark complexion, 5’5” tall, no facial hair, last seen wearing a short black winter hat, a black or blue shirt, black knit gloves and black sunglasses.

The crime is reported to have occurred on Friday, December 26, 2014 between 08:40 PM and 08:44 PM.

Arlington Heights Police released information about this crime on Monday December 29, 2014 at 12:33 PM — about 63:49 (hours: minutes) after the crime was reported. Please note: The elapsed time of police notification to the public is based on an estimated crime report time.

The delay of 64 hours is 2 1/2 days to notify the public of an armed robbery in their community. The time period also involves the turnover of eight patrol shifts lasting eight hours each.

The time frame information provided in NO WAY is intended to criticize any individual police officer performance, but is provided to call into question the public information policy of the Arlington Heights Police Department and the Village of Arlington Heights.

The same gas station was robbed on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at 7:43 p.m.

Other Armed Robberies …
On March 16, 2013 a gas station in Streamwood at 2 North Barrington Road was robbed and the clerk was stabbed and murdered at about 4:37 a.m. on March 16, 2013. The suspect was a male/white suspect dressed in all black.

Thornton’s Inc. is offering up to $5,000.00 reward for information that leads to the arrest of this offender. The crime has not been solved (See The Cardinal Thorntons Armed Robbery, Homicide March 2013: Increased Reward; Police Seek Assistance with Video).

Recently a gas station was robbed on North Quentin Road near Dundee Road in unincorporated Palatine at 2:00 a.m. on Monday December 16, 2014. The robbery occurred about an hour after an attempted robbery at a Shell gas station at 2501 North Meacham Road in Schaumburg (See The Cardinal Armed Robbery at Gas Station Near Quentin Rd and Dundee Rd, Palatine).

The Mobil gas station at Algonquin Road and Thoreau Drive North in Schaumburg was robbed about 3:28 a.m. on Tuesday November 11, 2014 (See The Cardinal Armed Robbery at Mobil Gas Station at Algonquin Rd and Thoreau Dr North, Schaumburg).

LIVE TRAFFIC MAP of neighborhood of an armed robbery at the Mobil gas station on Rand Road at Kennicott Avenue …

 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. 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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