The Crime and Its Aftermath

As the January issue of the Doral Tribune rolled off the presses on the morning of the 14th last month several well-armed men rolled into the NationsBank branch at 9701 NW 41 St.

The huge Metro-Dade Police Headquarters and Metro-Dade Police Doral Station complex at NW 25 St and NW 94 Ave.

Shouting, waving handguns, and flinging smoke bombs, the men made nearly as much of a commotion as our presses at full tilt.

The NationsBank at NW 41 St and NW 97 Ave--located directly between the two Metro-Dade Police facilities.

Terry Nelson, media representative for the Miami branch of the FBI painted a frightening picture of that morning: "This was a violent event; this wasn't someone slipping a note to the teller saying "give me all your money." One guy came in and secured the lobby for the other, who vaulted the counter to collect the money. They both carried handguns, were wearing black cargo pants and black t-shirts, they had tied white bandannas around their faces, and each had a military beret cap on his head."

The sprawling Metro-Dade Police Training Bureau, north of NW 58 St at NW 96 Ave.

Vanessa Cook, a detective in the Media Relations Bureau and the Public Information Officer (PIO) assigned to the scene of the bank robbery, was thankful the customers and employees came away unscathed.

Cook said, "As far as I know everyone was very cooperative and were very thankful to have made it out safely. No one was injured--thank was the most important thing."

But the potential for serious harm was certainly there--and in the aftermath of this event Doral residents were forced to once again evaluate their unincorporated status. But it wasn't a lack of parks or roads or churches that inspired introspection this time.

Suddenly the issue of whether or not to incorporate seemed a much graver issue; it wasn't just a matter of quality of life, but rather a matter of life or death.

But to immediately assume this crime could have been prevented or the suspects could have been apprehended had there been a dedicated "City of Doral" police force is an oversimplification.

METRO-DADE POLICE
PERFORMANCE "PROFESSIONAL"
The fact of the matter is, the Metro-Dade Police Department did a bang-up job handling this case from the second they received the call that went out regarding the robbery.

Metro-Dade's reaction time was more than just swift, it was nearly instantaneous.

Cook explained, "Almost immediately after the BOLO (be on the lookout for...) was issued, either one or two Doral area patrol officers spotted the suspects' car. It was almost instantly, not even a matter of minutes after they got the call. They immediately secured the bank and followed the suspect's car."

The officers gave competent chase as well--they didn't lose the car until it exited the Turnpike abruptly and dangerously to head west on NW 27 St, almost 20 miles away.

And when they located the car, which had only very recently been abandoned, again more likely a matter of moments rather than minutes said Cook, the Metro-Dade Police were able to bring their real advantages to bear: the size of their force and the sophistication of their equipment.

"We have approximately 3,000 sworn officers in the Miami-Dade area," explained Cook. "The suspects bailed out of the car but we were able to set up a huge perimeter in northwest Miami-Dade assisted by the Miramar Police. By that time the FBI was in charge of the investigation, so we were basically providing the manpower to support a perimeter at that point, but we were able to provide our helicopter to lend assistance as well."

Metro-Dade did everything they were supposed to, and exceptionally well. That the suspects got away can be attributed to their own dumb luck more than anything else, and by the time that happened the case was already out of Metro-Dade's hands and in the FBI's anyway.

"I myself have worked bank robberies with Metro for 15 years now," Nelson said, "and they've always handled themselves professionally and with great competence. This case was no different."

A DORAL FORCE AS A DETERRENT?
In this case at least it seems that a "City of Doral" Police Department can't be justified given Metro-Dade's performance; they were total professionals throughout. But despite their performance, the central question remains: would a specific "City of Doral" force have deterred the robbers?

Firstly, I'm not sure you could have picked a worse place than that NationsBank branch, with the Metro-Dade Police Headquarters just over 20 blocks south as well as the attached Doral Station, and the Metro-Dade Training Bureau--another huge facility--a little more than 20 blocks north.

To pick a target like that seems to most likely indicate one of three things: a total ignorance of one's surroundings, an overriding arrogance and/or overwhelming self-confidence, or a total lack of respect for the local law enforcement.

But that's not all--the suspects took the time to rob the drive-through tellers as well as the inside clerks only seems to reinforce those assumptions.

Both Cook and Nelson were surprised by the daring of the robbery. Cook herself called the burglary, "very brazen", while Nelson thought that ignorance of their surroundings was the only thing that could've prompted them to act. He was particularly surprised that they chose to rob both the tellers and clerks.

"That's certainly unusual," he said, "usually it's one or the other."

Would 'Doral Police' have deterred robbery?

When I asked Nelson whether he thought that the crime might have been prevented by the presence of a municipal police force and not just Metro-Dade he disagreed wholeheartedly.

"No," he said, "it wouldn't have effected it at all--we have bank robberies in small communities all the time--(a city force is) not the key, not in situations like this. I'm a big supporter of the Metro-Dade department; it's a mistake to think that just because they're large, they don't have a deterrent effect. They do."

He said that in cases like this, major crimes, Metro-Dade's reputation provides just as much of a deterrent as a city force would.

As it turns out Nelson happens to live in a recently incorporated municipality; when I discovered that I asked whether or not he had noticed a drop in crime in conjunction with incorporation.

"I did," he said, "I'm sure the rates for less serious crime dropped. For smaller, petty types of crime a local police department can definitely be a deterrent. But I just don't think for more serious crimes that's always the case."

PINECREST: AN EXAMPLE OF THE MUNICIPAL FORCE AS A DETERRENT
The daylight robbery of the Washington Mutual Bank in Pinecrest a little over a month ago would seem to reinforce Nelson's theory that major crime isn't necessarily deterred by a municipal force. It too was a sensational crime and it was splashed across the papers and dissected by the local TV stations just like the NationsBank robbery.

But when you delve past the anecdotal evidence and examine statistics, you will find a much different story--that crime across the board has dropped since Pinecrest's incorporation.

If you can, I would encourage you to go online to www.thetribune.net and check the web site of our sister publication, the Pinecrest Tribune.. In her article on page three of the January 31-February 13 issue, Editor Veronica Pontes-Matzner points out that since incorporation Pinecrest has, "consistently seen a decline in the various crime categories, with the exception of petty crime."

And even that increase is misleading because it results from the public's restored confidence in their police department--people are now reporting things they never would have reported to Metro-Dade.

As Pontes-Matzner explained, "How many of us would bother reporting a child's bike stolen from our front yard or a vandalized mail