Did you see the story about the three bank robbers who stole cash from a bank in Illinois and escaped to the home of one of their parent's? They were captured about an hour after the theft occurred because the bank had placed a GPS device into the cash, which took police straight to the source and they arrested all of them on the spot. Here's to technological advancements and capturing more bad guys.
Bankers may also be interested to know that the FBI has released its bank crime statistics for the 3Q of 2009 and some interesting trends can be found that are worthy of alerting every community bank about.
During the quarter, the FBI reported there were 1,229 bank robberies, the vast majority of which (89%) occurred at commercial banks. Other institutions paled in comparison for activity, with credit unions a distant second (8%), followed by thrifts and mutual savings banks at 2% and 1%, respectively.
Also during the quarter, the FBI reported loot (defined as cash, securities, checks, food stamps or other property) was taken in 90% of the instances and law enforcement agencies reported 22% of the time at least some portion was recovered. Cash stolen represented 99.9% of the loot taken at a whopping $9.5mm. By incidence, that breaks down to an average of about $7,716 per robbery.
Perhaps also not surprising, the data shows men are almost 15x more likely to rob a bank than women (502 vs. 34). On average, most bank robbers like to work alone, with about 1.24 persons known to be involved in each robbery. The good news is that although the 3Q is still fairly recently ended, the FBI has identified about 40% of the persons known to be involved. Drugs remain a key driver of this crime as well, as 40% were also determined to be users of narcotics. Finally, 17% have been identified as previously convicted for a similar crime.
By office, bank robbers prefer branches to all other locations hands down (which makes sense, as they are more plentiful). Branches represented roughly 95% of the offices hit, followed by the main office at 3%, stores at 2% and remote facilities at 1%. By location, commercial districts were the most likely to be robbed at 68%, followed by shopping centers at 23%, residential at 6% and other at 3%.
By day of the week, FBI statistics show banks were most likely to be robbed on Fri (21%), Wed (20%), Mon (19%), Tue (17%) and Thu (16%). Meanwhile, weekend robberies were much lower, coming in at 7% for Sat and 1% for Sun. As for time of day, mornings were the most active, with 30% occurring between 9-11am, followed in order by: 11am-1pm (23%), 1-3pm (21%) and 3-6pm (20%). The least activity occurred between 6-9am (3%) and 6pm or later (3%).
The FBI also reported statistics by method used. By and large, bank robbers were about evenly split between using a written demand note and making an oral demand (although oral demands were just slightly more common). A weapon was used in about 57% of the cases and the most common was a firearm at 92% of those cases. Curiously, knives or hypodermic needles were used about 3% of the time and explosive devices were either used or threatened in 5% of the cases.
Finally, by geographic region, the FBI reported the South had the most such crimes (40%), followed by the West (27%), North Central (19%) and the Northeast (13%).
In the movie "Point Break," bank robbers wore Nixon masks to protect their identities. Bankers know such events are no laughing matter and they are a risk that must be faced every day. This data is provided in an effort to assist all community bankers, as you seek to further protect yourself, your staff and your bank during the coming year.