50 stores held up by robbers in Helsinki last year

Police: hold-ups are often carried out on a whim by junkies

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A total of 50 stores were robbed in Helsinki last year, equalling an average of nearly one robbery per week. In addition, eight kiosks and two banks were also held up in 2008.
      At the same time, the police were notified of more than 450 street robberies. However, Detective Chief Inspector Kari Tolvanen of Helsinki's Criminal Police says that the number is somewhat lower than the corresponding figure for the previous year.
      Nevertheless, the robbing of the cash register of a Siwa outlet in Helsinki’s Myllypuro last Saturday was already the fourth Siwa robbery inside a month.
      Why is it that just outlets of the Siwa chain have been the targets of recent attacks?
     
”The reason is apparently the fact that Siwa is the largest chain of stores in the country, with the highest number of local stores”, says Harri Uusitalo, the chief security manager of Suomen Lähikauppa (”Finland’s Local Store”), the owner of the Siwa chain.
      Uusitalo cannot find any other reasons, as the Siwa stores’ locations and opening hours are more or less similar to those of the competitors.
      The Helsinki Police Department also believes that the robbers did not target the Siwa chain in particular.
     
”These attacks are not planned very carefully, but they are a result of a sudden need of money ”, says Detective Inspector Mikko Halme.
      Most of the robberies are committed by narcotics addicts on a whim, Halme believes.
      Halme notes further that small local current consumer goods stores still have money in their cash registers, as many of their customers pay in cash.
     
As a result of the robberies, the security level of Siwa stores has been stepped up. The shop assistants’ skills relating to robberies have also been refreshed.
      The main principle is that the lives of the personnel must not be put in danger, Uusitalo reports.
      Secretary Seija Virta from the Service Union United (PAM) reports that the members of the union regard the threat of a robbery as the greatest occupational safety problem.
      ”Luckily, physical injuries are a rarity, but being the target of an attack can cause a very severe stress reaction, which could lead to a situation where an employee is no longer able to continue his or her job as a shop assistant”, Virta reports.
     
Virta points out that the employees have a legal right to protection, while it is the employer’s duty to safeguard a secure working environment.
      ”Individual instructions for all retail shops are compulsory, and the stores have to have alarm systems and structural security arrangements in place”, Virta adds.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Shoplifters have developed taste for tenderloin in Helsinki (5.1.2009)
  Two men carried out armed bank robbery in Helsinki on Monday afternoon (12.8.2008)

Links:
  Suomen Lähikauppa Oy
  Service Union United PAM

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