CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officials said a move to put robbery detectives in each of the department's 13 patrol divisions is paying off.
On Monday, a man pushed the clerk at a dry cleaner's shop on Nations Ford Road and grabbed a fistful of cash from the register before leaving the business, authorities said.
Police arrested suspect 54-year-old James Bailey within a couple of hours.
He was a visitor to the business several times before, police said.
"Yeah, he hangs around here a lot and it makes me uneasy to know that it was actually him -- someone I have had interaction with," said clerk Tanya Pozo.
She had not heard about the robbery before Det. Joe Wilson told her Tuesday morning.
"I'm shocked," Pozo said who had previous encounters with Bailey.
Wilson interviewed Bailey shortly after he was arrested and charged him with the robbery.
He is one of two robbery detectives assigned to the Steele Creek Division on the city's southwest side where robberies dropped 17 percent last year.
The division's commander, Capt. Chris Dozier, said it's no coincidence.
"The theory is to respond and hit these investigations immediately and work them all the way through," Dozier said.
He credits the new approach with helping increase the clearance rate on robberies in his division to 40 percent.
"From what I've seen, it's effective. It works, Dozier said. "I think it's a good model."
Adding detectives closer to the community makes perfect sense to Pozo where the front counter of his store can sometimes be the front lines of crime.
"It is very comforting knowing that they're like close by and in the community versus behind the desk," she said.
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