Fragile Rituals: Armed Robberies Caught on CCTV

• In Event: Crime Caught on Camera I

Abstract

A masked person walks into a store and points a gun at the clerk, demanding money. The situation is clear: this is an armed robbery. But how do these situations unfold? And what if clerks do not comply? This exploratory study analyzes the interaction rituals and emotional patterns of store robberies in the United States and how they are breached. It makes use of the ever-growing number of visual footage from CCTV cameras uploaded on video-sharing websites. It will compare cases of armed robberies that took place in the United States and for which camera footage was uploaded on YouTube. Based on this visual material the study develops concepts and analyzes sequences of interactions and emotions frame by frame. The focus lays on robberies that failed, scrutinizing interaction rituals that where broken and how this happened. Results suggest that emotional dominance plays a key role in these events: If the robber does not establish emotional dominance in the initial seconds of the robbery, the clerk will not comply with the script. The de facto physical dominance of the robber then seems to become irrelevant for both parties, which allows even unarmed clerks to fend off armed and often experienced offenders.

Author

• Anne Nassauer, Freie Universität Berlin