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Some businesses are questioning the effectiveness of a Dallas police crime control initiative that has officers sign in at storefronts.
Some of those same businesses have been the target of violent and dangerous daytime robberies in recent days.
Two Metro PCS stores have been robbed by the same man. In one robber he was caught on camera standing next to the Ford SUV he used to flee in after stealing cash. He wore a cap with the word ‘pimp’ across the front.
The business robberies appear to be happening across the city and all of the businesses that have been hit in the past 48 hours have police officer sign-in sheets and officers are supposed to go in once per shift
FOX4 checked some of the sheets and found a mix – some businesses with plenty of sign-ins while other locations had almost none.
Businessowner Angel Obregon has not been robbed, but his business has been burglarized.
“Somebody came in around 1 or 2 in the morning. They came, broke a window and they took a box – that’s all I had,” Obregon said.
Dallas police have been on the street as part of the South Dallas Crime Initiative since the murder of Dollar General clerk Gabrielle Simmons last week. The hope is their presence is a visible deterrent to daylight business robberies.
“It seems to have spiked and a lot of times what they're doing we have people coming in and they are taking things out of the stores and they are operating in groups at times,” said Sgt. Joe Childs, South Central Patrol Division.
Anyone that recognizes the suspect in the Metro PCS robberies is asked to call crime stoppers at 214-373-8477.