Minneapolis 4th Precinct Robberies Crime Alert

The Minneapolis Police have issued a Crime Alert due to numerous robberies in Sector 2 and 3 of the 4th Precinct:

Fourth Precinct – Sector 2 and Sector 3 July 14, 2006

Facts:

From July 5 to 8, seven women were robbed of their purses in Sectors 2 and 3. These robberies occurred between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. Several of the suspects approached the women from behind, snatched their purses, and fled. Two victims were also assaulted. One suspect was on a bicycle; one engaged a woman in small talk before snatching her purse; another grabbed the woman’s purse while she was on the bus and fled from the bus with it.

There have been several suspects. Information is sketchy and inconclusive.

I have a couple of issues with this news release. First, they indicate the robberies happened between 8:30 am and 2:00 am. That's almost an entire day. Wouldn't it be easier to say when the robberies didn't occur (2:00 am to 8:30 am)?

Second, there is no suspect descriptions. One suspect even engaged a victim in conversation before he committed the crime. Are we to believe the victim couldn't provide some basic information?

As always, beware the Minneapolis Quagmire.