From my vantage point at Globe Works on Penistone Road at about 12:30pm all hell broke loose yesterday afternoon. About 20 police cars came down shalesmoor from the direction of town with lights and sirens.

Half of them turned left and went up the dual carriageway towards the arts tower roundabout and the other half went down Penistone Road in the direction of Hillsborough, with the helicopter hovering directly above.

About 2 minutes later the Hillsborough police contingent returned at full pelt and headed off in the direction of the Arts tower roundabout.

Has anyone heard what happened; the volume of police responding would indicate it being a fairly major incident....

I was walking up castle gate at the time, towards the market when 4 police cars and a helicopter went past in the direction of the new police station. The police cars ran red lights and made pedestrians jump out out of the way when crossing the road (admittedly they were being a bit slow cos I'd heard the sirens minutes before)...

No further information other than they were all going very fast...

Originally posted by firsteuro
Half of them turned left and went up the dual carriageway towards the arts tower roundabout and the other half went down Penistone Road in the direction of Hillsborough, with the helicopter hovering directly above.

I heard the helicopter!

Skatie

They heard there was only one doughnut left at the station...

Yeah, I was in the on the 9th floor of the Owen Building at the Uni, and saw them going down Arundel Gate. Dunno what it was about though.

I saw quite a few of them go down Brunswick Street. Police helicopter was overhead in that area for quite some time too.

Nomme

A new truffle shop was opening in Broomhill :)

I also saw the Helicopter from Eccie Rd at that time and it appeared to be near the Uni on Glossop road. I also saw a single rozzer in a car getting really excited when he got a message on his radio. He accelerated quickly from a traffic jam but had to stop really quickly ten metres down the road when the traffic stopped. Bless. You can't help but laugh at them.
:roll:

I heard on the radio yesterday that there was an attempted robbery at a travel agents at Banner Cross, the police helecopter was scrambled and a car chase ensued. Three men were later arrested in the pitsmoor area I think.

I was up there yesterday afternoon and there was a film crew outside the travel agents.

Could this be it?

Sounds interesting, I will see what I can find out. :)

Edit: On a related note (i.e. the police) you might also find this post interesting. It regards the new mobile law and how it affects the police themselves: http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&postid=50241#post50241

Story is Here (http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=702443)

The men were arrested in broomhall, not pitsmoor.

Armed robbery at Banner Cross.

Hmmm. Banner Cross - hey isn't that really close to <*SMACK*>.....

Nomme

Bloody hell that was close, if it was the other side of the traffic lights it would have been Eccles.........

:mad: Let's not start that.

Here is the story off BBCi news:

Arrests follow helicopter chase

Three suspected armed robbers were arrested after a police helicopter pursuit in Sheffield.
The arrests followed a raid on a travel agents in the Banner Cross area of the city at about 1230 GMT.

Police say three men burst into the office and demanded cash from the three members of staff inside.

The South Yorkshire Police helicopter was scrambled to track a car believed to be involved in the robbery.

It was pursued through the city centre, Park Square and along Penistone Road before being abandoned in a cul-de-sac in Broomhall.

A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said one man was detained by officers on Gloucester Crescent just before 1300 GMT.

Two more men were arrested a short while later and are now being questioned, she added.

Cool, I wonder if this will be featured on Traffic Cops?

It was pursued through the city centre, Park Square and along Penistone Road before being abandoned in a cul-de-sac in Broomhall.


- How did they ever think they would get away - especially with the helicopter overhead - have they not watched car wars??

removed by spook

Yes, Banner Cross is close to Ecclesall, yada yada ho ho ho. I for one find it very worrying that an armed robbery can occur in broad daylight, especially in an area thats usually safe. Also, why did they pick a Travel Agents? If you're going to do an armed robbery and risk getting caught, you might as well cross the road and do the Post Office or Bank instead. Why would a Travel Agents have large amounts of cash? People rarely pay for their hols in cash, and the only objects to steal are holiday brochures. Seems weird to me.

Maybe they hold a lot of foreign currency and travellers' cheques. Perhaps that should read held.:D

Originally posted by t020
Also, why did they pick a Travel Agents? If you're going to do an armed robbery and risk getting caught, you might as well cross the road and do the Post Office or Bank instead.

As Max says the Travel Agent may have had a large amount of foreign currency on the premises. Also many people do pay cash for their holidays to avoid the fee that some travel agents charge for using credit cards.

They probably avoided banks and post offices because typically they have better security arrangements than travel agents.

Originally posted by t020
why did they pick a Travel Agents? If you're going to do an armed robbery and risk getting caught, you might as well cross the road and do the Post Office or Bank instead.

Easy target innit....

Banks have a shed load of security, silent alarm direct to the police, etc, etc whereas a travel agent most probably has a fair bit of cash lying about.

****, thats like 2 mins from my house! That travel agent is a little tucked away

Originally posted by Mike
Easy target innit....

Banks have a shed load of security, silent alarm direct to the police, etc, etc whereas a travel agent most probably has a fair bit of cash lying about.

I suppose. It just seems weird for a Travel Agents to be picked. Theres even a Newsagents a few doors down which, one would assume, would hold more cash and wouldn't be very secure. The time that it happened also seems strange - bang in the middle of lunchtime. Oh well, at least they caught the ******.

Don't forget travel agents usually trade foreign currency...

**edited for sensible reasons**

Originally posted by t020
Yes, Banner Cross is close to Ecclesall, yada yada ho ho ho. I for one find it very worrying that an armed robbery can occur in broad daylight, especially in an area thats usually safe. Also, why did they pick a Travel Agents? If you're going to do an armed robbery and risk getting caught, you might as well cross the road and do the Post Office or Bank instead. Why would a Travel Agents have large amounts of cash? People rarely pay for their hols in cash, and the only objects to steal are holiday brochures. Seems weird to me.

The Post Office at Banner Cross was targeted a few months ago, also there was an armed robbery at the off licence.

It is not just areas in the supposedly deprived areas of the city which are targets for armed robbery.

An update on that robbery at the travel agents:

Robbers jailed for total of 26 years (http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=817856)

An extract:

..... Treazure, Shirley and their friend 21-year-old Darren Bunbury raided the Co-op Travel in Ecclesall Road, Banner Cross, and escaped with £2,300 in cash and £16,000 in traveller's cheques ------
Treazure later admitted three charges of robbery and a count of assault with intent to rob and was locked up for 13 years.
Shirley admitted two counts of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm with intent and was locked up for 10 and a half years.
Bunbury received a three year sentence after pleading guilty to a single robbery charge.