DASHI

I can't believe Dashi got robbed by three masked gun men last night. Good Friday, in the heart of town.

I am a firm believer that if these scum balls knew they were potentially walking into a restaurant full of trained, armed, pissed off, fed up citizens they would abandon the thought.

Sorry to hear this.
Things will never change face it.
I agree the best defense is a great offense(being armed and taking these lowlifes out for good) no revolving door justice involvement.
Saves tax money for sure.
Some clear messages need to be sent.
Maybe and just maybe some will think twice, but still unlikely. You can't fix stupid.

Be thankful your friends are crying and its not you crying for the loss of your friends life.

Anyone who thinks this is normal and uses the excuse oh it happens everywhere is in Denial.

I am a firm believer that if these scum balls knew they were potentially walking into a restaurant full of trained, armed, pissed off, fed up citizens they would abandon the thought.

Are you serious? If there was a shoot out, I could have lost some good friends. Instead, they were just a little shaken up and will be fine. They just took money, not lives. Have you ever been shot at or in a gun fight?

Im saying that those assholes have no fear of resistance. It makes them braver.

And yes I have had the business end of a gun pointed at me...

It's not fun. Of course my experience is not the same. IE machine guns RPGs etc...
And don't get me wrong, I like guns. But the average citizen is not trained to kill someone. It will nearly always end badly in a crowded area.
Not that it wouldn't be nice to have someone take them out. But it's really not as simple as people would like to think it is.

Our cops aren't supported by the courts and there is little accountability in the police force, so they don't need to go to places like the boardwalk at night and can just go nap in their cars at will. The police are also trying to hire over 70 new cops, but nobody qualified wants to do it. The cops in Csted are the only ones who should be carrying. fsted has cops everywhere at all hours.

Our cops aren't supported by the courts and there is little accountability in the police force, so they don't need to go to places like the boardwalk at night and can just go nap in their cars at will. The police are also trying to hire over 70 new cops, but nobody qualified wants to do it. The cops in Csted are the only ones who should be carrying. fsted has cops everywhere at all hours.

I saw two cops on street duty just down from Company St. around 8ish last night within 2 blocks of each other , on our way back from Kendricks. They looked alert and certainly were not napping. But I did ask my husband who, in their right mind, would want that job? No respect, no support, and not enough of them.

And at starting pay of just over 14.30/hr ...

Our cops aren't supported by the courts and there is little accountability in the police force, so they don't need to go to places like the boardwalk at night and can just go nap in their cars at will. The police are also trying to hire over 70 new cops, but nobody qualified wants to do it. The cops in Csted are the only ones who should be carrying. fsted has cops everywhere at all hours.

I saw two cops on street duty just down from Company St. around 8ish last night within 2 blocks of each other , on our way back from Kendricks. They looked alert and certainly were not napping. But I did ask my husband who, in their right mind, would want that job? No respect, no support, and not enough of them.

They're there. I'm not knocking our police force. That's a very hard jo and they don't get near the support they should.

I just spoke to a waitress that was there. She stated the police were there within a minute or so, and that they arrested two of the guys. I was not there however. Just reporting what I was told from someone there

a young punk tried to mug me on the boardwalk close to Angry Nate's 3 weeks ago at 8 PM on a Friday night. He didn't get anything but I did get some bruises and a broken finger, etc. out of it. No cops to be found and the officer I made the report to at the Basin Triangle police station couldn't have been less interested. Now the Danish tourists are involved. There are only 2 more weeks of the Danish charters happening this spring and with stuff like this going on, they may not come back next fall for another 5-6 month winter season of 260 tourists filling the hotels and eating in the restaurants each week.

Thats all we need running the few tourists we have off. Only being here a little over a year what can we (the citizens living here) do to make sure our lawmakers/senators/The Gov know it has to stop! Do they care?

I just spoke to a waitress that was there. She stated the police were there within a minute or so, and that they arrested two of the guys. I was not there however. Just reporting what I was told from someone there

They'll be out on bail within the next couple of weeks. Catch and Release!

My thoughts exactly Rotor,
Revolving door zero consequences.

I just spoke to a waitress that was there. She stated the police were there within a minute or so, and that they arrested two of the guys. I was not there however. Just reporting what I was told from someone there

They'll be out on bail within the next couple of weeks. Catch and Release!

Glad they caught them ... But Rotor is right, they'll be released. The "catch and release" has got to stop.

What worries me more than being at a restaurant while it is being robbed (and it has happened twice to me so far) is being at a restaurant being robbed where some hero decides to fight back. For example, lets say the hero is an expert marksman and cool under pressure. The restaurant is fairly busy but not packed. Three armed punks come in, fire a couple of shots in the air to get everybodies attention, and then proceed to rob the individual patrons. The hero senses an opportunity and shoot the nearest punk in the head - one down. The hero quickly turns and hits a second guy - only one left now. But I would bet the odds are the third guy, who is probably not an expert marksman, by now realizes what is going on, panics, and starts firing wildly in the hero's direction as he tries to run out of the restaurant. He does not care who he hits - he is a low life scum after all. Now lets say my wife gets hit by one of his stray bullets fired in the hero's direction. While the punk fired the gun and shot my wife, it would have never have happened if the hero had not tried to save the day. While I will blame the punk, I will definitely blame the hero too.

So far I have lost a whopping $120 bucks in these robberies. Nobody has been injured. Yes it is certainly aggravating. Yes I think I am at a greater risk of being a crime victim here than anywhere else I have ever lived. Yes I believe in having a firearm for home protection. Yes I am sure that I could kill someone I thought deserved it and live with it. But it would be hard for me to live with the knowledge that my reckless actions led to an innocent person being seriously injured or killed.

We live on the north shore and go out a couple of times a week for dinner. The only times we have been a victim of any crime has been those two restaurant robberies that occurred within 3 months of each other 6 years ago. So if I was to base my opinion of crime on STX on my experiences only, I would have to say that STX is much safer than it was 6 years ago. But I know that is not the case. So while I recognize I am at a much higher risk of being a crime victim here than just about anywhere stateside, it is still an acceptable risk to me. If it ever reaches the point where I am afraid to live a normal life here then I will move in a heartbeat, but it has not reached that point yet.

Sorry for the rant, but I guess this mindset of all we have to do is shoot back to eliminate crime is a pet peeve of mine. I know I pretty much thought I was invincible when I was young and I suspect most aspiring thugs feel the same way, so a fear of the consequences is probably not an effective deterrent.

Well said JE. There is no simple solution to the problem.

What worries me so much is that so many of us have personally experienced violence here. We all talk about crime being every where but nowhere as much as here. I have lived in Atlanta, Detroit, LA, Seattle and Memphis. No other place have I experienced this much violence.

You talk about how scary it would be if we had armed citizens, but give me an example of your scenario actually happening. Instead we just maintain the status quo where only criminals have guns and the police have inadequate resources to protect us. The police try to protect us but can't be every where at once. Instead of preventing us from protecting ourselves let's pass laws which are incredibly tough on criminals who use guns to commit crimes.

What if instead of your scenario, if three armed guys walked in and instead of just one citizen pulling out a gun, suppose ten people pulled out guns. Do you think the criminals would start shooting or would they run away?

I think the appropriate response is situationally dependent. Fighting back when being mugged on the boardwalk, when only you and the perpertrators are at risk, is certainly justified in certain situations. A home invasion scenario? Sure, I hope and think I am prepared. I am all in favor of maximum sentencing for gun cirmes - I guess I have become jaded as I have gotten older but I think rehabilatation for violent crime is a pipe dream for the most part. But I have spent probably more than my fair share of time over the years in bars and I have yet to see an altercation where I thought "wow, that would have worked out a lot better if one of those goobers would have had a gun instead of having to rely only on their fists". I am not necessarily against armed response to violent crime but I do question the judgement of many people in a crowded restaurant robbery scenario. Regarding the police, it is rare anywhere in the world for them to prevent a crime - the nature of their job is to respond to a crime after it has been committed. While our solve rate could be better, and thereby reduce multiple crimes committed by the same person, I don't think the overall police response here is that big of an issue in the overall crime problem..

Instead of preventing us from protecting ourselves let's pass laws which are incredibly tough on criminals who use guns to commit crimes.

It's already illegal to use guns to commit crimes. I think the problem is poor work by police and prosecutors, a disinterest in doling out justice to your own friends and family, and the fear that doing good work will lead to your house being burned down.

What if instead of your scenario, if three armed guys walked in and instead of just one citizen pulling out a gun, suppose ten people pulled out guns. Do you think the criminals would start shooting or would they run away?

The criminals would start shooting. They already do that when confronted by police.

Martial Law! Civilian authority has failed. Take away territorial courts replace with federal courts only. Remove all guns from everyone including the cops.

What worries me so much is that so many of us have personally experienced violence here. We all talk about crime being every where but nowhere as much as here. I have lived in Atlanta, Detroit, LA, Seattle and Memphis. No other place have I experienced this much violence.

You talk about how scary it would be if we had armed citizens, but give me an example of your scenario actually happening. Instead we just maintain the status quo where only criminals have guns and the police have inadequate resources to protect us. The police try to protect us but can't be every where at once. Instead of preventing us from protecting ourselves let's pass laws which are incredibly tough on criminals who use guns to commit crimes.

What if instead of your scenario, if three armed guys walked in and instead of just one citizen pulling out a gun, suppose ten people pulled out guns. Do you think the criminals would start shooting or would they run away?

Oh, come off it, already!

The Aryan Brotherhood just murdered a prosecutor AND his wife in their home in Texas...this is believed to be tied to the other murders of prosecutors on the same team. Fourteen .223 rifle cartridges were found, so someone had no qualms about shooting a couple in their sixties at least seven times each...that, my friend, is violence.

Texas is much more violent than STX...along with Atlanta, Detroit, LA, etc.

You actually want people to believe that you are "safer" in LA or Detroit than on STX??? ROFLMAO.

Want robberies to stop? How about working with the young men to give them a sense that there is hope for them in this dismal economy, in which their job prospects are becoming more and more controlled by people who have an inherent dislike for them?

You can't solve crime with guns. You have to get to the root, which nobody on this board has the cojones to do. Why would three young men rob a restaurant? Did they need money to buy drugs, or to feed their families, or both? Maybe they had jobs, and were terminated for one reason or the other. You'd be amazed at the number of questionable terminations that are happening on this island. You may terminate a perfectly nice person from their job, while having no clue as to the character of their brothers, uncles, sons, etc...

Not saying that Dashi's was hit because of that, but there are issues in this community which need to be seriously discussed in an open forum where everybody can be heard. You will solve more by talking than by shooting guns at people.

Unless the root issues are addressed, which would involve dialogue on a level that most people cannot stomach (until it is way too late), you are going to witness an event on this island which will rival past events in intensity. The underlying anger issues must be addressed, and soon...and not by armed restaurant patrons either.

I know and you know JahRustyFerrari that the majority of the people that live on ST Croix do not feel safe. The Civil authorities have lost control of the crime on the island. My opinion it's not underlying anger as you so state. ( it's just lazy and wow is me attitude) also no fear for because no consequence. What level of dialogue are you referring that most people can't stomach. You my friend enable the criminal by the blame game. Don't tell me it's safe to go to the beach and leave your car unlocked. walk on the boardwalk when it's dark, go to a restaurant and get robbed. Now you talk about an event that will rival past events in intensity. You're an enabler.