Robberies That are Not Investigated, and What Can Be Done About Them

Robbery is a serious violent crime, yet many may not realize that police agencies often do not investigate (beyond the initial patrol response) all robberies that occur. This paper presents an in-depth study of 742 robbery reports from Seattle, Washington, focusing on those robberies not investigated beyond the initial police response (almost half the sample). As expected, investigated robberies were predictably linked to crime seriousness and injury, as well as to traditional “solvability factors,” such as whether a suspect was identified. However, a closer look at uninvestigated robberies revealed three distinct typologies: outdoor-stranger, shoplifting-turned-robbery, and residential. Recognizing that police cannot realistically devote investigative resources to all crimes, we argue that police can bolster their efforts to address these uninvestigated crimes through other evidence-based approaches anchored in prevention, problem-solving, and strategic investigation.