Little Britain Kawartha Credit Union robbed
Members from the City of Kawartha Lakes Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrested and charged four individuals in relation to an armed robbery call at a local financial institution.
On Monday June 16 at approximately 4:12 pm officers responded to reports of an armed robbery in progress at a financial institution in Little Britain. Witnesses reported seeing masked individuals in the financial institution with handguns and bank tellers with their hands in the air. City of Kawartha Lakes OPP responded with all available members. Durham Regional Police Service and Kawartha Lakes Police Service were notified and assisted. One individual was arrested in the parking lot in a vehicle and three individuals, who fled the financial institution, were taken into custody without incident a short distance away.
Due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act identifications are withheld. One 14 year old, one 16 year old and two 17 year olds were arrested and charged with:
- Armed Robbery
- Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm
- Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
- Disguise with Intent
- Possession of Property Obtained by Crime
The accused are being held for bail court.
Kudos to Kawartha Lakes OPP and other forces assisting for what appeared to be an incredibly prompt and ample response to this bank robbery in a small Kawartha Lakes town. Maybe the robbers were really slow, but I still wonder how did the OPP got at least 4 police cruisers to Little Britain before the bank robbers exited the bank? Teleporters?
Video of the bank robbers escaping on foot was posted on social media, providing the public with a visual we would not normally have. The offenders leaving the front door of the bank, one carrying a blue bag, and then the three of them in coordinated black clothing fleeing on foot to the west, followed by an officer in chase with a tactical rifle and a second officer running up the sidewalk with handgun drawn. Simultaneously, two unmarked cruisers cornered a waiting vehicle in the parking lot at the rear of the bank, extracting the occupant with hands up, while additional marked cruisers were on the street.
Finally, the deployment of an infrared camera equipped drone to located the bank robbers demonstrates that technology has a big role in law enforcement, and that drones fit the budget in places like ours where helicopters would be too costly to deploy more widely.
We’re lucky to have the OPP as a Province wide force for small towns and rural areas.