How dare the police assume these people's gender? And it wasn't robbery -- they were making an undocumented withdrawal!

Surely they're not from around here. Antioch probably.

This is no joke!
One Pleasanton Police vehicle was shot up, one Pleasanton Police officer was injured, transported to hospital, treated and released.

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Does anyone know why banks no longer have armed guards?

Armed guards cost too much. Tellers are told to hand over the money. No one wants the liability. Let's be glad it didn't turn into an ugly hostage situation.
For some reason, probably being high on meth, criminals no longer fear the Pleasanton PD. Our PD needs to break out the big guns and destroy criminals on the spot.
Otherwise, it will just get worse.

There are no short comings with the Pleasanton Police department.
They all, are highly educated, well trained, and the best Police force in California for a city of 75K population.

I support the Pleasanton PD totally, I contribute to the PPOA. My point is, that we now have broad daylight streetcrime that has been increasingly brazen in the last few years. In the not too distant past, criminals did not come to Pleasanton from out of town to crime. I think that started with the Mall and Bart.
But now scumbags come from Antioch, Stockton, Hayward, Oakland. They don't respect our PD anymore, and it will take a large show of force, arrests, and incarceration to get that respect back. Our guys are the best, but we need more of them.
I would pay more taxes to strengthen our PD. How about you?

Actually, the city and police have a program to install license plate scanners at all the major entry points to the city. I don't think they're installed yet though. Those sort of tools would be helpful.

There's very little you can do to stop bank robberies besides posting police nearby. Perhaps that's what's needed, but given the cost the odds are that they'd get pulled off for traffic duty or emergency response across town.

I do think that with the increase in the development of the city--apartments and offices--it would be good to see some reporting on how the PD has kept up with growth or if we need to be paying more to hire more.

This type of crime happening has nothing to do with how our police department is viewed by criminals. It has to do with a lax judicial system that does not punish criminals. I’m pretty sure this isn’t their first crime...they’ve committed other crimes and were never punished when caught. If criminals aren’t being held accountable for committing crimes, why wouldn’t they try something as brazen as this?

Emily, obviously you've never been in front of a judge.

That bank has been robbed multiple times now. Guess it’s time for putting tellers behind a glass wall like they do in Hayward and San Leandro.

Seems to me like we need some professionals with guns who are good guys. The bad guys know where there are gun safe zones and points of entry. Escape routes a plenty, 680 north or south, 580 north or south, backstreets, BART etc. Easy in and easy out.

Regardless of what is said here Pleasanton PD are not up to the task in either capability nor numbers. The ones we have are more focused on revenue generation and lack of physical fitness. We need to hire real cops not ticket givers or people just trying to stay retired until they can retire with pension.

Wow, the accusations aimed here are disgusting.

John and Mike, residents of other cities, conveniently ones listed here with more poor and minority residents, aren't a default judgement for you to pass. Mike and Sam, police not going guns-wild and potentially hitting bystanders is probably a good thing.

These are bad hombres. This was planned with a lot of detail and they had good firepower and skill. To hit a moving vehicle while you are moving and with your body turned hanging out of a window takes practice and skill. This was not a lucky Barney Fife shot. And the fact that they have not been see or apprehended, they had training.

I don't understand how PPD lost the criminals in the chase? Maybe PPD is not experienced in chasing criminals.

These scumbag criminals know even if caught, they would be out of jail within a couple of days. No fear. They don't care about keeping their records clean. The only solution is to increase the punishments. CA is too easy on these guys, and they know how to take advantage of the system!

I must admit that I’m a little unsure. If silent alarms where triggered and customers called 911 from the lobby wasn’t there time to have assistance from Dublin PD at I580 and I680 ramps?

@Upset
What makes you say that the criminals would be released in a few days if caught?

I suggest we install more surveillance cameras in public places, especially at intersections. I wonder what else can be done to help police win a car chase.

It should not come as any surprise that Pleasanton and California's crime rate is increasing. We have declared ourselves a sanctuary state so we are getting all kinds of wonderful gang members. Walk the Arroyo Mocho and look at the bridges from Pleasanton to Livermore, each one is tagged with multiple gang symbols. Gun free zones are a magnet for armed criminals. We continue to pass stupid gun laws which only impact law abiding citizens, which of the following gun laws do you think the perps complied with? bought gun in store?, went through criminal background check?, fingerprints?, 10 day wait period?, only had a magazine with 10 rounds or less? gun carried unloaded in a locked container in the trunk?

Wait a minute the joke is on us and we get what we deserve. We voted for these idiots to impose these laws.

I am wondering why the 3 nearby schools were not placed on lockdown...... Lydiksen blocks away from car jacking location.

I agree with Sam. It all started with Bart to the Mall, and low income housing forced on us by the state. I really believe that drug abuse, especially meth, has a lot to do with the brazen daylight crime happening the past few years. People wired up on crank and alcohol have no fear, or common sense or decency.
The explosion of addiction to meth and opioids is driving a lot of this crime.
Lenient sentences and "diversion programs" don't work that well for hard drugs.

Different gun laws would not have made any difference at all in this situation. Please introduce yourself to reality.

Sam,
Where in the article does it say that the criminals were immigrants? Why are you talking about sanctuary state laws? Vent your right wing nonsense somewhere else!!

Robert, I'll respond to you once and once only. If you haven't noticed, no one responds to you and you are completely ignored. The reason for that is simple, you add nothing positive to the discussion and always revert to fits of anger and name calling. If you want to be taken as a serious adult then you need to be able to listen to others opinions without lashing out. If you honestly think you are getting anyone over to your point of view by your outbursts then you are sadly mistaken. Please think about it and try to grow as a human being.

Mike,

One of my points here is that when is a law not a law? When its not enforceable or abided by. That is where we are in California. People just pick and choose which laws they abide by and which laws the state or in many cases the cities decide to enforce. This is called anarchy and we are becoming very close to it in this state.

I am very well connected to law enforcement and they have told me numerous times that this is a political time in California and they are told which laws to enforce and which laws not to enforce. Are they frustrated? They sure are. They say a common phrase when they see something illegal happening is to just leave the window up, turn up the air conditioning, and keep driving.

Sam, I'll respond to you many times and only many times. Cops don't want more guns on the streets. Citizens don't want more guns on the streets.
The article doesn't say anything about the race of the criminals so you automatically assume that they are latinos because the TV box has had you foaming at the mouth about a wall for some time now. Even thou your prez had 2 years of Republican Congress and Senate majority and could have had wall funding in a half a day he chose not to. He wanted to save that battle for the time Democrats would take over Congress so he can keep his base (you) agitated, so he can get re-elected. He is doing it for political reasons, nothing more. You have been lied to by your own guy. He is making a fool of you just like I am making a fool of you by pointing out the flaws in your thinking.

Sam, you are in the minority in California. More people think like me and less like you. You choose to live in constant fear. I choose not to live in fear. So who is the "immature child" here? Who is the scared little boy?

I am not here to change your views on anything and we will never find "middle-ground". I don't negotiate with terrorists.

If you want to assume anything, we can safely assume that the criminals were not right-wing extremists. THEY would have killed everyone in the bank.

Sam: "It should not come as any surprise that Pleasanton and California's crime rate is increasing."

I don't think that that's true at least for Pleasanton. The per capita crime rate in the early 1990's when I first came to Pleasanton was about twice the rate that it is now. Oh, and that was also before Pleasanton had any BART stations, so the old excuse of blaming BART doesn't work, either.

Doug,

I do not think BART has much to do with it other than shoplifting and one in a while a mugging in the parking lot. I think more of it comes with population increases and lack of opportunity, drugs, one parent families, poor laws, overwhelmed court system with lax punishment, and as a result law enforcement has their hands tied. To try and pin it on one thing I believe is a mistake but things are much worse in Pleasanton than anytime I have seen and I have been here since 1978 and my wife has been here since 1968. Pleasanton is not a city anymore but rather part of the Dublin, Livermore, and San Ramon interchange. I'm not saying it is bad but that crime comes with it. The court system is failing us and as a result the police stop policing as hard. How many bank robberies have we had in the last few years? how many have been solved? I'll give you a couple examples of how the court system and politicans have failed us

Lax laws? I asked a different person before and she didn't bother to answer, mostly because she had made an uninformed statement....When was the last time you have been in front of a judge here in Pleasanton? I want a specific date please.

Robert Adam. Aren't you the demanding person. Have you been in from of a Judge in the Pleasanton Courts? If so please provide a specific date, name of Judge, which court, outcome of appearance and what the charges were. If not please advise where you are coming from. Don't answer with another question, just the facts.

@Sam

"How many bank robberies have we had in the last few years? how many have been solved?"

I don't know. How many?

The point, you, the one with no name, is that people in these forums make a lot of uninformed comments and it's detrimental to the community. All you right-wingers do is drive each other crazy in this fantasy world you create together, one ridiculous comment on top of another. Fear is your main trigger/driver. You are always scared. Fear is a very short trip to violence. This is the reason for the rise of right-wing extremist violence.

Yes, I was young and a bit reckless once and ended up in front of a judge here in Pleasanton. I can also tell you that the punishment I received went well BEYOND the "full-extent of the law", as they say. Can you even imagine such a thing is possible? I couldn't until it happened to me. Right-wing, law-abiding (haha) people don't ever believe anything until it actually happens to them personally. You are against gays until your child comes out, then you're ok with it. You are against abortions until you knock up your secretary, then you're ok with it. You're against illegals until you need someone to cut your grass, then you look the other way to save money. You are for the police until it's time to pay more taxes which pay their salaries, then you're quiet. You need more? I can do this all day.

Now you answer my questions!

What lax laws? Why did you make this thread political by bringing up sanctuary laws when nothing in the article even suggested these criminals are illegals? Why do you stir the pot? What does it gain you? When have you even sat in a court room to watch how laws are being applied?

What if when they catch these criminals, and they will, it turns out that they were 4 white guys? Are you going to apologize? Is it going to keep you from posting silly comments in the future? Personally, I doubt it. Your fear will tell your fingers to type up some ridiculous comment.

I'm not trying to "save" you, you're too far gone.

@Doug,

my nephew is with LPD and I think he told me the number was 7 and I do not know if it included this last one. Pleasanton has way to many entrances and exits going in different directions. There is some thought into using helicopers at Livermore airport owned by the sheriffs department which to me makes a ton of sense because of traffic and density of housing.

Seven Pleasanton bank robberies in the past few years? Don't recall reading of that many. My feeling is that it's maybe more like seven in the past few years in the Tri-Valley area. Also, most bank robberies involve the robber not actually showing a weapon and - more often than not - not even being armed. This last bank robbery was very unusual in that shots were actually fired. Also, as for this last bank robbery I would say that it's premature to say that the robbers have escaped justice, if that's what you're suggesting. I often read about high profile crimes that are committed and then read about the perpetrators being arrested weeks or months later due to the police steadily and relentlessly following up on clues and suspects.

Doug,

US bank on main street got robbed, Bank of America off of Hopyard, Wells I think 3 times. I think the best answer to stopping crime or at least solving crime is to do what New York did and that is to put cameras everywhere. We will have to give up some civil liberties but so what we will have a safer city if the bad guys know they will end up getting their picture taken.

Hopefully Pleasanton PD are close to arresting these clowns. Someone had to have captured video of the crash, carjack, or of them driving away. If Pleasanton PD can't solve this that's pathetic.

Robert Adam. Please answer the question as written rather that going of on some diatribe of nonsense. After you answer the specific question I will answer yours. What is your question of me?

Stop stalling. Scroll up and read. Your turn!

Yea people make outlandish statements on here I saw one post where a guy actually said illegal immigrants do not get any welfare can't think of a more stupid ill informed commen then that

I agree with the sentiment on the “lax” laws. While it’s not so much the law itself, it’s tge reality of the situation overall that is not deterring criminal behavior as much as it should. For example

Criminals know banks don’t have armed security anymore.
Criminals know bank tellers are told to hand over cash because of risk of harm.
Criminals know if the police show up and they run away, the police won’t shoot them if they don’t pose a direct threat.
Criminals know if they drive erratic the police will back off a car pursuit due to public endangerment.

If they are caught, the law will be applied by a judge, but due to prison crowding they won’t likely serve the full sentence.

While this isn’t a great life situation it’s definitely not an aggressive stance on crime or deterrent compared to say Singapore’s stance on drug trafficking where death is the penalty.....you don’t really think twice.

China has solved both crime and prison overcrowding. Rob a bank, murder, sell drugs, or assault a foreigner death penalty. No waiting and immediate behind the jail one bullet next.

robert adam. You scroll up and read you did not address specifics of the question. If it is my turn what is the question? Typical ranting of non sense without specifics. Again what is your question of me?

Sam, maybe you should go live in communist China. Take PP with you. None of the things you listed PP are laws. Also, robbing a bank is a federal crime, FBI is involved from the beginning. Shooting at anyone is attempted murder. What is the lax punishment for that? Driving crazy is public endangerment. Car-jacking probably carries a long punishment, have you looked up how long that is? These criminals are facing a very long list of charges. When caught they will serve a very long time in jail. You don't know what you are talking about, you just want to vent.

By the way, the reason banks did away with armed guards is because they would be shot immediately upon the robbers entering the bank. They didn't get a chance to keep anyone safe, in fact, it almost guaranteed at least one dead body.

I think you've found your calling Phony Bob, armed bank guard.

Robert,
As usual youre absolutely wrong. Please move.

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Yowzers this really went off the rails...

Is there any news on possible leads?

Just a little reminder that the crime rate today in Pleasanton is much lower than it was 40 years ago. We have a lot to be thankful for. Practice gratitude, it will improve your outlook on life.