Police: July 2008 Archives

BY MIKE CETERA

Remember the great ticket picket of 2007?

Some members of the Aurora police union, reportedly upset over a plan to give a city commission investigating citizen complaints subpoena power over the police, decided to stop writing (or at least slow down) the number of tickets issued to motorists.

The police brass initially complained about the ticket picket, but later pooh-poohed the protest. Meanwhile, union President Wayne Biles told the public, essentially, move along, there was nothing to see here.

"There has been no change in our commitment to serve and protect the citizens of Aurora," Biles wrote in a letter to the editor. "Contrary to what The Beacon News inferred, we are busier than ever, making more traffic stops than last year and having more contacts with the public." (emphasis added)

Wrong.

BY MIKE CETERA

On the same day Aurora saw its second consecutive day in which a bank was robbed, the FBI released its latest data on the prevalence of the crime.

Interesting nugget: While robberies are spread out over the week, the day with the most bank robberies is Friday, according to fourth quarter 2007 data. Some 324 bank robberies nationwide occurred on a Friday . The time of day with the most robberies: 9 to 11 a.m.

Here's one explanation:

"Banks used to have more money on Fridays because, historically, it was payday. It's probably still a perception, but it's not necessarily true today," says FBI agent Ken Neu.

"As for 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., it's the beginning of the banking day, and it's perceived that there's still a lot of money in the bank as opposed to the end of the day in terms of hard cash. Again, probably more a perception than a reality."