Crime

Since I turned 16 I have worked in retail.  I worked at the mall for my first 4 working years and then from 2004 through the present I have worked at a bank.  And over the last 12 years I have seen a lot of crime that has happened in both establishments.  The instance that stands out the most to me just happened last year while I was pregnant with Jacoby. I was the assistant branch manager of a bank that was nestled inside a local grocery store.  I was working the teller line when a person walked up to me to cash a check.  She had proper identification and for some reason I got a really strange vibe from her.  We had recently been sent a watch list of people’s names to be on the lookout for and sure enough when I pulled that up her name was on it.  At that point I was on high alert.  Then a gentleman came up and started talking to me (the first clue that someone is trying to get you…they try to distract you).  We had a nice little conversation while the hairs were standing on the back of my neck.  Then I did what we are taught.  I tried to buy time.  I emailed one of my coworkers to go in the back and call 911.  I then said that I needed to verify the check because it wasn’t in our system.  Miraculously they stuck around.  I “called” to verify it and of course it didn’t pan out.  I then told the customer that I needed to go to the back to grab something.  This was so I could finish the 911 call and the other person could come out.  Unfortunately at that time, when I went back there they left.  But I was able to pick them out of a photo lineup and they were apprehended at a later time.  I kept getting subpoenaed to go to court but by the time the trial came they had plead out.  It was very strange.  One thing I learned from the police is that there are usually rings that work and they will have some of their group members go to local homeless shelters and get those people to cash checks for them with their IDs and then they will get a small fee.  I don’t know if those people know they are cashing bad checks or what but I guess people will do anything for a quick buck.

(Another late post for the Spin Cycle on Crime)