Is Mob Crime a Flash in the Pan?

To counter "flash robs," we'll need to move away from the traditional criminal-justice approach to crime.

Unless federal and provincial politicians wake up to U.S. top cop William Bratton’s recent epiphany that you cannot arrest your way out of riots, we can expect to see a lot more “flash robs” in the coming years. Bratton is renowned for his claims that he helped reduce violence in New York City through zero-tolerance policing. Thus, it was surprising to hear him advising U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron to invest in targeted social-prevention measures rather than the more traditional criminal-justice approach of reactive law enforcement.

Prime Minister David Cameron went so far as to praise the Glasgow police’s public-health approach as a solution to tackling crime and violence. Public-health strategies use science to mobilize social institutions such as schools, housing, and families to tackle the causes of crime. This approach must be applied to the rising phenomena of flash robs in North America.

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The name “flash robs” is a bastardized version of the more commonly known “flash mobs.” The latter usually refers to positive events, in which a large group of people surprise an unsuspecting public with dancing, singing, and music. These events are often organized by respectable corporations, such as Flash Mob America, that excel in creative expression and giving back to the community. Similarly, “Vote Mobs” were a major feature of youth political engagement in the most recent Canadian federal election, motivating students at college campuses to get out and vote. Organizers of these constructive public acts typically use email and social networking to spread the message about their impromptu gatherings. The flash mobs are then recorded live and sometimes posted to sites like YouTube.

In contrast, “flash robs” use the element of surprise to wreak havoc on unsuspecting store clerks. Large groups of youth instantly appear at stores to frighten the clerks and bystanders, using this as a ploy to steal what they want from the stores. Most of the participants seem to be young men from disadvantaged areas who are often part of loosely knit street gangs. Like flash mobs, these mass robberies are often organized using social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. They are recorded on store security cameras, and many participants even record their actions on their own video cameras, often putting them on YouTube.

Such flash robs have occurred in cities like New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, and even Ottawa, and they are unlikely to go away.

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There is nothing new about young men from disadvantaged areas forming loosely knit or highly organized groups to engage in illegal activities. This is as true of street gangs today as it was of “swarming” in the 1990s. The usual explanation is that these men are seeking positive acceptance and camaraderie to replace the feelings of failure and hopelessness that often dominate their lives. They are not deterred by standard police actions of arrest, even though they can be identified. Again, this is not a new revelation. Studies show, for instance, that, while the omnipresent CCTV cameras on British streets have increased the number of offenders charged and convicted, they have had little impact on crime rates in the U.K.