Hollister
– The city has experienced a spike in robberies in the first six
months of the year and should surpass the total from each year in
the past decade if it continues, according to Hollister Police
Department statistics.
Hollister – The city has experienced a spike in robberies in the first six months of the year and should surpass the total from each year in the past decade if it continues, according to Hollister Police Department statistics.
Authorities do not know why there has been a spike in robberies, said officer Rosie Betanio, a spokeswoman for the Hollister Police Department. Cell phones are a common item reported taken from robbery victims, Betanio said.
Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller said several of the robberies have started as burglaries, such as someone stealing beer from a store, and have turned into robberies when the thief punched the store clerk. The robbery of cell phones could be personally motivated, Miller said.
“I’m not going to sound the alarm on any of these things at this moment,” Miller said.
Many of the robberies have been without weapons, Betanio said.
“Some weapons have been used, but the ones we’ve been having recently have mainly been strong arm,” Betanio said.
In the first six months of this year, there have been 27 robberies, a 58 percent increase from the same period in 2006 and a 68 percent increase from the first half of 2005, according to police records.
In June, there were eight reported robberies, the most in one month since at least 2003, according to police records. In May, there were seven robberies reported.
On three consecutive weekends in April, a liquor store and three restaurants were the targets of armed robberies. Authorities received reports of one or two masked men using a knife or gun late in the night to take hundreds of dollars from the businesses.
Police have not made any arrests in the April hold-ups.
The most recent robberies have occurred at various times.
“We’ve had several actually that have happened in the daytime,” Betanio said.
Betanio said people should be aware and carry a cell phone for precaution.
“Be aware of your surroundings,” Betanio said. “Don’t try to walk alone.”
