Hands Up! A Qualitative Study of the Bodily Dynamics of Shop Robberies Using Video-Analysis

• In Event: Crime Caught on Camera I

Abstract

Based on CCTV video-footage of 23 shop robberies in the Netherlands, we analyze bodily postures and movements of both offenders and victims to understand how robbers attempt to impose a “working agreement”. Our study suggests that the forcefulness of armed threats is related to dominant bodily posturing; weapons should be seen as part of the bodily maneuvering. When robbers used a disguise tactic, their bodily postures and movements tended to show signs of tension: avoiding eye contact, hesitantly walking back and forth. These robbers had to put more effort to transform the situation into an asymmetrical one in which they could impose the robbery frame. On the other hand, robbers that moved rapidly into co-presence with the victims as they came running in with weapons ready faced a different challenge. They had to give the victims time to adopt to the robbery frame they were suddenly proposing. Some victims were flabbergasted and others continued to perform routine behavior. In some cases, this produced more severe threats and/or resistance from the victims. The paper concludes with methodological considerations of the use of video-analysis for the study of robberies in particular and crime in general.

Authors

• Floris Mosselman, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)

• Don Weenink, University of Amsterdam

• Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)