Portland Robberies: Number Increasing Fast

Everyone has heard of a robbery at some point in their life, on the news or just by talking to people. It’s a very scary thing to hear about, especially if you live close by the “crime scene”. We asked some 7th grade students from Stoller Middle School if they had heard of any robberies locally, or near them at all. Grace Mercer said, “Yes, and they are increasing.” We asked Alexis Taylor why she thinks they are increasing, and her response was, “I just think people don’t have enough money to support themselves, so they go and steal from others.” There seems to be an unusual increase of robberies in Portland, Oregon, especially right here in the neighborhoods by Stoller Middle School! We both (Alexa and Anjali) have heard of a couple minor cases in our neighborhoods, and or suspicions are rising. There have been car robberies and house robberies both. Police are trying to track down the robbers, and people are being alot more cautious now. They are making sure to lock the doors and windows at night, and during the day, to protect their family and themselves. But, that isn’t always enough.

This is what Brian Kim answered when we asked him why Portland robberies are increasing, “Because Portland isn’t the greatest place and the economy is kind of bad. I think my neighbor got robbed about a week ago.” But some people have different answers, for example Maddie Muhlheim says “I think they stayed the same because I haven’t heard of any lately.” So it could just depend on where you live and if you watch the news or not. We asked Maddie why she didn’t think they were increasing and she said, “Because we have better technology now like alarms/security systems.” She is right too, we do have a lot more to protect our houses and cars with. But people don't always remember to turn on their alarms, and sometimes don't even bother to use them at all, ever. This could be a reason why robberies have been increasing lately. With all the stress and time with work and kids, people just forget to do simple things like lock their doors and turn on their security alarms. The economy is bad right now, so more people have lost jobs and are trying to find ways to support them and their family. In some cases, people take drugs to relieve their stress. This takes over their decision making and they do things that they would regret. But at the time, the only thing on their mind is to close their debt, so they might steal from others because they are so desperate and drugs are controling their minds.

Portland police are trying very hard to stop robberies and bust the criminals. In this case, they did catch the two men that robbed a house in North Portland. 47 year old Derek R. Lukovich and 36 year old Jeremiah Paul Rountree were arrested for breaking into a house and assaulting a man and a woman and demanding marijuana. Police say that both men had handguns. They were arrested for a first degree robbery, first degree burglary, second degree robbery, and second degree assault and other charges. Both are being held on $805,000 bail in the Multnomah County Jail.

A case where the police do not catch the robbers is when a couple who lives off of West Union road got robbed of 50,000 worth of jewelry. KPTV reported that the stolen items that belonged to Cindy and Manus Poonyagariyagorn include a diamond necklace, many gold bracelets, and Cindy’s wedding ring and a charm bracelet her mother gave her when she was born. “So they took away part of my history,” she told the station. Police have been trying to track down the robbers but have had no luck in finding them.

In this robbery, they haven’t caught the people yet, but they have a suspect that they are almost positive about. It happened on Monday, well actually they happened on Monday. There were two armed robberies and the police are suspecting the same guy. The first one happened at the Astro Gas Station in Southeast Portland. The victim told police that two suspects entered the business and one was armed with a handgun. The gunman hit the victim in the head with his weapon and stole an unknown amount of cash from the register. Then later that day, police went to another robbery in Southeast Portland at Max Mart and Deli. The victim told police that two suspects entered the business and one was armed with a handgun. The suspect armed with the handgun punched the clerk, causing small injuries, while the other stole another unknown amount of cash from the register. Both ties the suspects left the area just by foot. People searched the neighborhood both times but the suspects could never be found. Police have an idea of what the suspect looks like and they are working on finding him.

This is a big wakeup call to our community. The fact that there have been more and more robberies lately, could mean many things, like robbers have come up with smarter and sneakier ways to steal, or that more people think it’s okay to steal stuff from other people. Recent articles on Pennlive.com have stated that one trick that the robbers use is that they dress up as a salesperson and ring your doorbell. It may seem like they are trying to sell you their product, but they are looking for ways to break into your house. Robbers can be very tricky, so if you don’t be careful, you can get yourself into a heap of trouble. If people want to live in a good community then they should step up and try to stop the people that do bad things, instead of waiting for the people to get caught. There’s a lot you can do, like report to the police any suspicious activity and not leave valuable things unprotected so people could easily take it. This should stop the robbers from having things to rob and it might even get them caught.

So next time you leave your house or car to go somewhere, lock the doors, and don't leave valuables in plain sight. These simple everyday rules, if followed, will make a big difference. It really isn’t right for people to take things that aren’t theirs, but under some circumstances, they feel the need to do it anyway. So take action and protect what is yours, before you lose it for good.
 
By: Alexa Kerprich and Anjali Panikar
Word Count: 1,106