NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2022 FEATURE Bank robbery is a high-profile crime that fascinates many people. Movies have been made about famous bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and Butch Cassidy. There is even a new movie that just came out about Gilbert Galvan, Canada’s most prolific bank robber who robbed 59 banks in five years. It might surprise you – as it did me – to learn that the number of bank robberies is the lowest it’s been in half a century. That’s what I discovered while researching a book about the shift to a cashless economy. With people using less cash, I had expected fewer bank robberies. But I was startled to see that the downward trend started well before the cashless economy started springing up in the 2000s. ‘Bling Ring’ and the ‘Ninja’ Movies often depict bank robberies as precision plots planned by smart crooks. However, this doesn’t match reality. Most bank robberies are committed by people simply walking in and demanding money from a teller. In 2021, about 85% of bank crime was committed at the tellers’ counter. The vast majority of thieves either passed a note to the cashier or made a verbal demand. Very few incidents involved burglary, when a thief enters the bank during nonbusiness hours; or larceny, when money is stolen with no direct confrontation with employees. Over half of all cases involve a weapon being brandished or a threat to use one. This results in many bank robberies becoming traumatic and dangerous events Robbing Banks Doesn’t Pay Bank robberies are at their lowest point in 50 years for employees and customers in the bank. Since 1999, 15 people have been killed in bank robberies, 94 were injured and 62 were taken hostage. Law enforcement perpetuates the mystique of bank robbery by giving many robbers interesting nicknames, as you can see from the FBI website devoted just to them.* For example, the FBI is offering $2,000 for information leading to the arrest of the “Bling Ring Bandit,” who stole an undisclosed sum from a bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while wearing a large gold-colored ring on his right little finger. My favorite is the “Ninja Bank Robber,” who was covered in black from head to toe during his April 2022 robbery. Because there are different types of bank robberies, Jay L. Zagorsky Clinical Associate Professor Boston University zagorsky@bu.edu The high rate of bank robberies in the early- to mid-20th century led some Indiana bank owners and employees to arm themselves as “bank vigilantes.” Guns became commonplace enough in banking culture that the Indiana Bankers Association hosted an annual shooting competition, including this husband-wife XIEQ JVSQ XLI IZIRX ,SSWMIV &EROIV ƤPI TLSXS
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