Surveillance footage shows a suspect in a number of robberies of cash advance businesses in late 2019 and early 2020.It was just one digit on a license plate that led Chattanooga police to a suspect in a string of armed robberies against cash advance businesses. And it's that kind of determination that has brought the Chattanooga Police Department's robbery clearance rate to twice the national average.
The robberies started in mid-November 2019 when a man robbed Collegedale's Ameritrust Financial Services at knifepoint.
"Give me the f - - money," he demanded before forcing both clerks into a back office, police said.
Ultimately, he'd leave with $2,245 and some change.
But he'd be back.
On Dec. 28, the man returned to the same financial services shop at opening time and tried to rob the same woman. But she saw his reflection in the glass door, and instead of unlocking the business she ran to the shop next door and called police.
The same man tried to rob another cash advance businesses in Chattanooga that same day, police said. And again on Jan. 3.
Like the earlier robberies and attempted robberies, the man waited in his parked vehicle until no one was in the business before entering. Then, armed with a "bowie knife with a 'brass knuckle' style grip ornate with spikes," he demanded money from the safe and registers before fleeing.
On Jan. 7, the man tried to rob the same cash advance shop that he robbed just four days earlier. Only this time, Chattanooga robbery investigators heard the call come over the radio and rushed to the scene. But the man had already fled.
What the culprit didn't know, though, was that police already knew who they were looking for. A nearby business's security camera had captured him turning his vehicle around in a parking lot after the Jan. 3 robbery, exposing his license plate.
2019 BY THE NUMBERS
Total reported robberies: 215 - 94 have been cleared by arrest - 20 were cleared by exception (victim refused prosecution) - 19 were unfounded (investigation proved the crime did not occur) - 81 are pending (including cases with arrest warrants but suspect has not yet been arrested) - 17 cases from 2018 were also cleared by arrest during the continued investigation in 2019 Source: Chattanooga Police Department records
"From that view, I was able to get one digit off his tag," said robbery investigator Rob Simmons. "You won't believe the little bit of information - how it grows."
Simmons took that digit and asked the Department of Motor Vehicles to run a search for vehicles with that color, make and model and that digit in that sequence.
"It turns out, in Hamilton County, only one person had that digit in that spot with that car," Simmons said. "That person was Dejuan Scott."
Patrol units found Scott, 22, shortly after the Jan. 7 attempted robbery and took him into custody without incident. He is awaiting trial in all the cases.
"WE WERE REACTING LESS"
Across the country, police departments on average have cleared, or resolved, only 30% of reported robberies, according to the FBI. Robberies are notoriously difficult to investigate, police say, because there's often no connection between victim and suspect, and no real motive other than it being a crime of opportunity.
"It's random like that on purpose," Simmons said. "The criminal picks this person, or picks the business, just based on the motive of financial gain, not for revenge or a personal M-O.
Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Chattanooga Police robbery investigator Rob Simmons talks about robbery trends in Chattanooga during an interview at the Chattanooga Police Service Center Friday, January 10, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tennessee."So now I can't look to my victim to try to find why it is he was robbed because it's a random act. I'm not going to get anywhere with that. So I have to rely on other things. I have to rely on evidence at the scene."
One of the first things investigators do right after speaking to victims is to dust any surfaces the suspects may have touched for fingerprints and check for any surveillance footage.
"I have to pay attention to the little things, because the number one goal at that time is to find the 'who' or the 'what,'" Simmons said. "I pretty much know the 'why.' And I know the 'how.' I need to find out the 'who.'"
In Chattanooga, investigators made a series of arrests of serial offenders toward the end of 2018, which has helped bring the robbery unit's clearance rate to 60%.
A case is considered cleared when an arrest is made, the offender dies, the victim refuses to prosecute or if the report is determined to be unfounded.
One of those cases included a series of home invasions during which the suspects impersonated police, authorities said.
Victims said they were approached by people who held them at gunpoint and told them they were police officers. The suspects then forced their way into homes and took cash, personal items and drugs, police said.
Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Chattanooga Police robbery investigator Rob Simmons talks about how changes in technology have assisted in robbery investigations during an interview at the Chattanooga Police Service Center Friday, January 10, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tennessee."When we made those arrests, we saw an immediate drop in robberies in the beginning and all through 2019," Simmons said. "We were reacting less and we were able to concentrate on individual cases more, which rolled over to us spending more time on individual cases - and we were clearing a lot more."
Another aspect that has helped Chattanooga police is tapping into federal resources when possible.
Three of the unit's investigators have been sworn into the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force, which helps them file federal charges in some cases. That allows them to take violent offenders off the streets for longer periods of time.
"I'm proud of [our clearance rate]; I'm even more proud of the team of investigators clearing these cases," said police Chief David Roddy. "That number represents the dedication and determination of the robbery unit, increased internal communications, valuable federal partnerships, and responsiveness to our community's needs."
In all of last year, 215 robberies were reported in the city, according to the Chattanooga Police Department. That's down from 309 in 2018, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
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