We make ourselves such easy target for criminals, then complain when we are the victims.
By the time we removed the surveillance video of the Zaxby’s Monday night robbery from The Panolian Facebook about 1 p.m. Thursday, over 77,000 had viewed the page. We posted it at the request of the police department. We took it down at the request of Zaxby’s whose employees had become concerned about being identified for retaliation.

The video clip showed the two armed robbers manhandling the store manager in the restaurant office. It made you shiver just to watch. It also made you realize that the manager and other four or five employees who were on duty there at closing time July 4 were fortunate not to have been shot.

Another video clip from the robbery came from a surveillance camera that faced the doorway that opens to the restaurant’s rear. The robbers entered through that door, disguised in hoods, gloves and ski masks. They moved quickly and aggressively, pointing their semi-automatic handguns at the workers. One robber collared a worker and got him to lead him into the office where they disappeared for a few moments from the camera’s view. They were joined in the office by the other robber. The earlier video segment recorded what went on inside the office. Then they were quickly gone, back out the door. It was over in 45-50 seconds.

As soon as the door closed behind the two robbers, an employee ran to lock it and prevent their return. And you have to wonder whether the outcome might have been far different had the door been locked in the first place.

Then there were a rash of vehicle burglaries Wednesday morning, this time in the Sunrise Hills Subdivision. And again, the favorite targets were unlocked vehicles — 20 of them — that yielded purses, wallets, loose change from consoles, but fortunately no firearms, at least none that have been reported.

 The way these vehicle thieves usually operate is to move through neighborhoods late at night and simply test for unlocked doors. Though it has happened in several areas of town and police have pleaded with vehicle owners to remove valuables and lock vehicles at night, the pleas have apparently fallen on enough deaf ears for the illegal activity to have have become our growth industry.