Chicago area bank robberies pass 2011 level — and it’s only August
BY KARA SPAK kspak@suntimes.com August 8, 2012 8:10PM
Video footage shows two male blacks in their 20's wearing hats and sunglasses in the process of robbing the TCF Bank at 125 Stearns Road in Bartlett on June 6, 2012. | Photo courtesy~BanditTrackerChicago
Chicago-area bank robberies in the last 10 years
2012 - 117*
2011 - 115
2010 - 203
2009 - 190
2008 - 277
2007 - 226
2006 - 284
2005 - 238
2004 - 160
2003 - 151
* As of Aug. 8
Five bank robbery facts
1.) $38.3 million in cash was robbed from U.S. banks in 2011. Slightly more than $8 million was recovered.
2.) More bank robberies happen on Friday than any other day of the week.
3.) The most common time of day to rob a bank is between 9 and 11 a.m.
4.) A demand note is used more often than a weapon.
5.) Thirteen people died during bank robberies in the United States in 2011 — 10 perpetrators, 2 law officers and 1 guard.
Illinois ranked 12th for the number of bank robberies by U.S. state in 2011.
1.) California - 687
2.) New York - 339
3.) Texas - 294
4.) Ohio - 242
5.) Massachusetts - 216
6.) Florida - 214
7.) Pennsylvania - 211
8.) Arizona - 210
9.) Colorado - 170
10.) Washington - 154
11.) Maryland - 151
12.) Illinois - 150
SOURCES: Chicago Sun-Times; FBI
Updated: September 10, 2012 1:45PM
There’s no Wheaton Bandit, Bomb Lady Bandit or Swine Flu Bandit to blame for the rise in local bank robberies.
Rather, a group of average-looking mopes — likely desperate for cash to fuel their drug or gambling addictions — is driving up the number of local bank heists.
The Chicago FBI office has recorded 117 bank robberies so far this year, two more than in all of 2011.
Ross Rice, FBI spokesman, said 2011 was simply “a really slow year.”
“People didn’t rob banks,” he said. “It’s really that simple. Less people robbed banks, and we don’t know why.”
Since Monday, three area banks were robbed — one in Bridgeview, one in Northlake and one on Chicago’s South Side. Clear pictures of two of the robbers are online at bandittrackerchicago.com, a collaborative website created in 2009 by the Chicago FBI office, Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
Improvements in digital photography — and the banking industry’s willingness to use it — have led to perpetrator photos that look nearly as clear as a driver’s license picture.
“The industry standard is now one digital camera focused on each teller station,” said William Rehder, a former FBI bank robbery specialist who now works in security consulting. “Before, it was catch as catch can.”
Digital photography allows the banks to quickly transmit pictures from their cameras to local law enforcement, said Debbie Jemison, spokesperson for the Illinois Banking Association.
“Banks have really worked on the positioning of the camera, getting good front pictures of the robbers,” she said.
Collectively, on Bandit Tracker, those pictures form a rogue’s gallery of larcenous everymen.
“There’s no such thing as the prototypical bank robber,” Rehder said. “He looks like the boy next door.”
The Chicago FBI office solves 75 percent of bank robberies, Rice said. Tips the office gets off the pictures it posts on Bandit Tracker are one reason why.
“It never ceases to amaze us that people go to banks (to rob them) with no attempt to disguise their identity,” Rice said. “You combine that with Bandit Tracker, and we get a tremendous amount of tips.”
Some breaks come from the unlikeliest of tipsters — the robbers themselves, Rice said.
“We’ve had cases where people go out to rob a bank, go to Bandit Tracker and see the photo of themselves robbing the bank, and then they call the office and turn themselves into the police,” he said.
Chicago area bank robberies peaked in 2006 with 284. While it’s tempting to pin this year’s bump in bank robberies on the sluggish economy, it’s also wrong, Rice said.
“Look at 2006 — the economy was great,” Rice said. “That was a record year for bank robberies.”
