Late-Night Clerks Learn To Avoid Violence With Would-Be Robbers

The video shows two convenience store workers arguing with a would-be robber and refusing to open the cash register.

The scene ends with the robber shooting both of them, taking the cash from the register, then running into the night.

“So this is obviously what not to do,” said Spokane County sheriff’s deputy Greg Snyder.

Late-night retail robberies continue to be a serious problem in the Spokane Valley. In the past two weeks there have been two robberies and an attempted robbery.

“They happen constantly,” said Sheriff’s Cpt. John Simmons. “Unfortunately, it’s just a cost of doing business for some of these people.”

While stores with late-night hours might make easy robbery targets, Snyder and employers are trying to educate workers that robberies don’t need to end in violence.

Snyder, a crime prevention officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said his No. 1 piece of advice to workers is never to argue with or chase a robber.

Whether or not the robber is armed, resisting can lead to violence, said Snyder.

The word seems to be getting out.

None of the recent robberies in the Valley ended in violence, according to the Sheriff’s office.

Few robberies end in anything but a loss of money. The last violent robbery in the Valley was two years ago when a robber hit a Pizza Hut worker in the head with a gun.

One of the recent robbery targets was the Taco Time at 6704 E. Sprague.

Cordell Briggs, president of Omni Management, which owns several Taco Time restaurants in the Spokane area, said his employees are told during training that money is never as important as their safety.

“We’re never going to blame anyone,” said Briggs.

Wendy Robertson, manager of the Conoco gas station and convenience store at 209 N. Sullivan Road, said she tells employees that if they are confronted by a robber to be polite and do everything possible to get the robber out the door as fast as possible.

Nearly half of the robberies associated with late-night convenience stores are drug-related, according to the state Department of Labor.

“A lot of guys that are dumb enough to do that (rob a store) are pretty desperate,” said Snyder.

Most all-night convenience stores have less than $100 in the cash register. The rest of the money is usually stored in a safe that employees can’t open. “Once we drop it, it’s gone. There’s no retrieving it,” said Robertson.

She’s amazed that anyone would risk jail time for what usually ends up being very little money.

The desperation was apparent in the eyes of the actor playing a robber on the training video. They were not the kind of eyes that could be reasoned with.

In the second take of the robbery scene, the video shows a scenario with a more ideal outcome.

The robber gets his money without a fight and runs into the night. The two unharmed convenience store workers call the police.

The scene ends with two patrol cars screaming into the parking lot.