Despite recession, bank robberies dropped in 2009

Updated 46m ago
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Bank robberies plunged nearly 20% last year to their lowest point in at least a decade even as Americans grappled with a deep recession and widespread unemployment.

Bankers and investigators had anticipated that the nation's sputtering economy would set off a new wave of holdups as more people became desperate for money. They now say the combination of sophisticated new tactics — such as tracking fleeing robbers by satellite — appear to have made a significant dent. And that includes places where the economy has hit the hardest.

"With the economy, we expected an increase," said Brad Bryant, the head of the FBI's Violent Crimes and Major Offenders unit, which investigates bank robberies. "But we haven't seen robberies in which the person's motive was that he got laid off and needed the money."

Nationwide, robbers struck about 5,500 banks last year, according to preliminary figures from the FBI, down about 18% from the year before. The number of alleged bank robbers charged in federal courts also reached a 10-year low in the fiscal year that ended in September, according to U.S. Justice Department records.

They're stealing less, too: In the first nine months of last year, robbers made off with about $30.5 million, down more than 25% from the same period the year before, according to FBI reports.

The robberies have become less common — and less lucrative — even in places such as Miami, Los Angeles, and Detroit, all hit hard by the recession.

Investigators say one of the reasons is that new tools have made banks harder to rob, and have made it harder for robbers to get away.

In Miami, banks give robbers cash implanted with a Global Positioning System tracking device; investigators can track the fleeing criminals from laptop computers in their cars, said Rick Brodsky, who supervises an FBI violent crime task force there. In Phoenix, agents have used electronic roadside billboards to show high-quality pictures of suspects within minutes of a robbery, said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Orlando Pages, who oversees the area's bank robbery squad.

"When you have all those traps, even a drug-addled perp is likely to think twice," said David Shapiro, who teaches economics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

Robberies — considered a barometer of economic desperation — have generally tracked unemployment rates over the past decade, said Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management for the American Bankers Association. "But it's not a good way to make money," he said. "Most of them get caught, and many others leave the bank with no money."

The majority of bank robbers are unemployed, Brodsky said. Even so, most are motivated by drugs or gambling debts, not joblessness. FBI agents in Phoenix asked 143 robbery suspects last year why they held up a bank; only 18 said they did it because they lost their jobs or needed the money.

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