There were nearly 200 convenience store robberies across Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford over the last decade, almost three-quarters of them involving a weapon or a threat of one, according to Halifax Regional Police report logs.

A CBC News analysis of data from the robbery logs — which detail everything from time of day, to the weapon used, to whether a youth or adult was arrested — reveals a series of trends and patterns in the Halifax area.

For instance, a small handful of convenience stores are targeted far more often than others. The most hit store was the Needs on Lacewood Drive in Clayton Park — robbed 13 times since 2006, before it was closed late last year.

Perpetrators also have a decent chance of not being caught. The data provided by police to CBC shows fewer than half of convenience store robberies result in a criminal charge.

'Unsolvability' rate

That "unsolvability" rate is mostly due to poor-quality video surveillance technology, according to Sgt. Kevin Murphy with Halifax's general investigative unit.

Police see obsolete systems in both big chains and independent stores, he said. Sometimes they're not turned on at all.

"We've had videos that come back and you might as well be looking at the pictures of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster back in the 70s," Murphy said in a recent interview.

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Although certain convenience stores are hot spots for robberies, yearly trends are down. The peak over the last decade was 51 robberies in 2006. The low was seven in 2013. There have been seven robberies in 2016 so far.

Police include video stores, gas stations and laundromats in their definition of convenience stores as they have convenience-elements built in.

Robberies are thefts where there are threats or violence. In this data, report entries are limited to robberies Halifax Regional Police responded to and exclude large grocery chains and pharmacies.

Some of the other findings of the CBC analysis include:

The most-robbed convenience stores are located on traffic arteries to out-lying parts of the city.

Robberies are more likely when the sun's down.

They're more likely when it's warm out.

They tend to happen in areas of high vehicle and foot traffic.

Who was robbed?

In the following map, names of stores reflect the year the robbery occurred and may be different than what they are today.

The Lacewood Drive Needs, in particular, was "geographically located in an area where we have a bit of higher crime population," Murphy explained.

Rounding out the top three most-robbed stores: the Needs located at 33 Herring Cove Rd and the Needs at 6130 Chebucto Rd. Between those stores, four robberies were committed with a firearm; 20 with another kind of weapon.

Sobeys Inc., the owner of the Needs brand, declined an interview request.

Spokeswoman Shauna Selig told CBC News by email the Lacewood Drive Needs was closed in December. Recent store closures, including that one, are the result of market assessments across the region, she said.

CBC News also reached out to the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association to discuss security and safety concerns. The group declined to comment.

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'Precautions' for all weapons

Those who commit robberies are most likely armed — 71 per cent carried a firearm or other kind of weapon.

Aside from firearms, the most common weapons include bats, knives, and sensory sprays. There can also be unusual ones, too, such as suspects wielding syringes they claim are infected with HIV.

"That's a loaded weapon, as far as I'm concerned," Murphy said.

Cases involving a firearm are identified as such by police, even if the robber only claims to have a gun and it's not seen or if a replica is used.

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"We take all precautions for any call. You never know what's there. If they come across a replica, they're going to treat it as if it's real. Visibility is a big thing and at nighttime you don't have the time to decide if that's real or fake," Murphy said.

Cash and cigarettes

Besides cash, cigarettes are a hot commodity.

"Cigarettes are almost a currency for some people," Murphy said, adding high prices and the difficulty tracing them, make cigarettes an ideal target. "They're easy to turn around in the black market."

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Overall decline since 2006

Murphy said police have been active in robbery prevention through Comstat — a program that reviews crime trends every three weeks. If need be, extra patrols or plainclothes officers are deployed to hot spots.

Operation Breach is another method, Murphy said. Police are "constantly checking" high-risk offenders or those with conditional sentences.

Sgt. Kevin Murphy works with Halifax Regional Police's General Investigative Unit. He's been a police officer for 28 years. (David Irish/CBC)

"If they're known for robberies or whatever, then we're going to check their house if something happens and make sure that they're there."

Murphy said stores are also getting more security savvy. Owners cut down the risk of being robbed by having uncluttered windows, good lighting, and no nearby bushes where suspects can hide and wait until it's clear.

"We can offer the solutions. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make 'em drink. We try to do our best to educate them," he said.