Crime & Safety

Rochester Police Chief: 'One Robbery Is Too Many'

Here's what Chief Steve Schettenhelm and his Rochester Police officers are doing to keep our city safe.

Is downtown Rochester safe?

That may have been an unusual question to hear around town four months ago. But after two robberies downtown in that amount of time — the most recent less than two weeks ago — it's one that is now pleading for a response.

In July, two men armed with mallets robbed Lucido's Fine Jewelry. Earlier this month, three men robbed Antiques by Pamela, a jewelry store just across Main Street from the first robbery. Both incidents happened in broad daylight. 

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Rochester Patch recently spoke with Steve Schettenhelm, the city's Chief of Police, to get the latest on the investigations into the robberies — and to be reassured about the safety of our downtown.

Evidence and a warrant

First, the good news: Schettenhelm said his department is close to an arrest in the Lucido robbery. A fingerprint left at the scene helped detectives identify one of the men involved in that robbery; then, an employee picked the suspect in a photo lineup. 

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There is an active warrant for that person's arrest, Schettenhelm said. 

(Read 

In the Pamela's robbery, an employee was bound with duct tape; Schettenhelm said the duct tape, along with a hammer left at the scene, are part of a collection of evidence from that robbery. Investigators are also aggressively studying and enhancing video surveillance footage from that store as well as other stores in the downtown area. 

(Read Woman Held at Gunpoint as 3 Men Rob Rochester Shop.)

There is no indication that the two crimes are related, Schettenhelm said. "The methods are completely different," he said. 

Both investigations are ongoing, and Schettenhelm urges anyone with information to contact Rochester Police at 248-651-9621.

Crime in Rochester

In the past three years, there has been less than one robbery a year in downtown Rochester; last year, there were no robberies. This is a downward trend from the years prior to 2009, Schettenhelm said.

"One robbery is too many — we understand that," he said. "We feel we have a safe downtown area. The statistics seem to show that.

"It will take the community working together to restore our feelings of security."

Since the incidents, Schettenhelm said the department has stepped up its foot patrol of the downtown area. But the foot patrol has always been a routine part of an officer's duty: in the past year, there were 200 occasions where officers were on foot patrol in the downtown area. The times and days of the foot patrol vary; they are designed to be random.

"We have to be caught doing our job," Schettenhelm said.

Officers will frequently walk in and out of shops. 

"We've stepped it up recently," he said. "We usually have increased patrols during the holidays, but because of the robberies we have already begun."

Just last week, Schettenhelm said, he received a call about a suspicious person walking downtown. "We were able to say, yes, we just saw that guy a half-hour ago while we were patrolling downtown."

Lessons learned?

The Lucido's incident happened at 2 p.m. on a Saturday. The Pamela's incident happened before noon on a Friday. 

Schettenhelm said a daytime robbery of a jewelry store is not unusual.

"They're open, so the thieves don't have to worry about an alarm system. And they can blend in with activity during the day in a downtown."

In the Lucido's incident, the two men entered from the back alley entrance. In the Pamela's incident, one of the men entered the store from the back alley.

Should businesses reconsider their back alley entrances?

Not necessarily, Schettenhelm said. There is a balance between shop employees feeling safe and having a back door to make things convenient for customers.

Schettenhelm said he is available to personally visit downtown shops to talk to owners about security; he plans to speak with business owners during a merchant forum on Wednesday night.

"We always tell people that if they are concerned, they can give us a call. We'll walk you to your car at night. We're glad to do that. It's a partnership, and we want to be there to provide a peace of mind." 


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