Shame on individuals blaming victims for not having enough security to defend against theft as recently suggested by Chicago's mayor. My home town of Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, recently had a coordinated attack by 14 individuals ransacking the Louis Vuitton store and grabbing $120,000 in high-end merchandise. This is becoming all too common. Additionally, identifying offenders is becoming more difficult due to COVID-19 mask mandates.

This crime carries with it two goals for the investigator:

• Initially obtaining an admission from an offender committing the crime
• Obtaining knowledge from the acknowledged offender as to the name(s) of those who participated
  

If evidence is sufficient to identify a smash-and-grab offender and he/she confesses, the goal would be to obtain knowledge of the accomplice(s). If, however, the goal is to obtain an admission from the individual committing the crime, the interrogation approach would differ. Following admission of committing the crime, the knowledge approach would then be utilized.

The following two approaches will be for the offender then followed by themes to elicit names of accomplices from the offender.

(Continue reading the article - pdf Smash and grab below)