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Davis

Davis, California

Monday, March 18, 2024

Coffee-goers, beware!

JEREMY DANG / AGGIE

Robberies at various coffee shops around Davis

The Davis Police Department identified four stunts of coffee shop robberies in Davis and surrounding areas in the last few weeks. Students and coffee-goers alike are advised to be more aware of risks.

Andy Fell, the public information representative for the UC Davis Police Department, indicated where the robberies occured.

“There are four cases that Davis PD brought to our attention,” Fell said. “Most recent is Peet’s Coffee on E Street in downtown. Before that, there was yet another Peet’s on Covell Boulevard and Temple Coffee on G Street in August as well as the Starbucks in Dixon.”

Paul Doroshov, the Davis police lieutenant, elaborated on the information they have so far about the robberies.

“All of these robberies have been perpetrated by young males,” Doroshov said in the Davis Enterprise. “In these cases the suspects entered a coffee shop, looked around, and began grabbing laptop computers. In some cases, the suspects grabbed computers out of the hands of people sitting at tables conducting business or studying.”

Even so, the Davis Police Department is still investigating for more information about the perpetrators.

“Davis PD is still investigating this, and we ask if anyone has information to please contact UC Davis Police or Davis PD,” Fell said. “Davis PD believes that they are linked because all the crimes are similar.”

Virginia Roden, the store manager for Peet’s Coffee, described her reaction when she first heard about the incident.

“I was discouraged and angry,” Roden said. “I was notified the night that it happened, as it’s part of our policy to let the store manager know if there are any incidents like that at the store. I will say that I was not aware of the fact that so many other coffee houses — not only in Davis, but throughout Sacramento and Dixon and other areas — have been having this issue.”

Furthermore, Roden noted that she was upset about a lack of communication which, if corrected, might have prevented the robbery from occurring.

“The following day, I was pretty upset to find out that there was really no communication from the police department in regards to this,” Roden said. “I feel like we could have been more proactive to prevent this from happening in our store.”

Roden elaborated on how the crime was carried out at the Peet’s Coffee on E Street.

“On the night of the incident, two perpetrators came in and they were dropped off by a vehicle,” Roden said. “They walked in and went to the bathroom area, and in less than four minutes from the time they walked in until the time they turned back around, their car circled the block and came back up. On their way out, they both had their eyes on particular laptops, and they grabbed the laptops and ran. Both of the victims ran after them and police were notified.”

In order to prevent an incident from happening in the future, Roden noted that educating guests would be beneficial.

“First of all, by notifying our guests that there is an issue and letting them know that when they are sitting in areas that are close by the door or they’re positioning themselves where they are not aware of their surroundings, they are potentially putting themselves at risk [by] just not being present and aware of people around them,” Roden said. “Often times, students would get up and walk away from their stuff. Unfortunately, they are too comfortable in an environment that’s not always safe — just making the public aware that there is an issue so that they can be more proactive.”

 

Written by: Stella Tran – city@theaggie.org

 

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