Have you ever heard about a local bank being robbed?

Yes. There’s a bank one street over from us. It was robbed by a man acting alone. He ran across their parking lot, jumped a wall, crossed the street, and ran through our side yard and over our back fence to the street beyond. We could see the footprints alongside the house. We never heard anything more about it.

This was more than 30 years ago. Crime is nothing new.

There are bank robberies where I live all the time. Usually, they train the tellers to give up the money instead of their lives, and no one gets hurt. The robbers usually only get a few hundred or thousand dollars. It’s pretty standard.

Sometimes people in suburban or rural areas think they are immune to crime, but it isn’t true. Their crime rates can easily be equal to or higher than urban crime rates. You’ve just been lucky up until now.

@burntbonez
Easy access to guns makes such crimes easier.
Thanfully No one was harmed.

The bank in my town was robbed before while a friend of mine was working there. She said she didnt even know the bank got robbed until after the fact. Guy came in handed a note to the teller demanding money and that was it. I forget how much he got but it wasnt that much. The best part however was that his get away vehicle was a bicycle and he still managed to out run the cops – _ -

I think you’re right about that, @philosopher.

@burntbonez
What is the solution?

Political action. Unfortunately it is a huge battle, as a lot of people love guns and think the guns make them safer, not less safe. So you are dealing with a population that believes things you don’t believe. That’s hard to change.

Of course, dealing with problems with poverty and poor education would help, too. But these are long term solutions and they are expensive, and most people would rather suffer from crime than have to spend that much more on a real solution.

All the time. Including this.

I work at a bank, so we get emails whenever a local bank is robbed to alert us. To answer your question, they’re fairly common, even in South Carolina where I am. They’re even more common in big cities.

@livelaughlove21
I feel that easy access to guns makes robbery any place easier.

I think nearly every bank within a mile of my house gets robbed at least once a year, and that is about a dozen banks.

I was in Charlestown today. They’ve had a couple bank robberies there.

That’s where the money is.

By the way, this is nothing new. My Aunt worked in banks ever since the late 1940’s and she said her bank was robbed an average of every other year. She worked in several different banks, both in Colorado and in California over the years.

There is a bank robbery in my town about every couple of months. One bank got robbed 3 weeks in a row. If I were going to rob a business, it would definitely be a bank. If I’m going to prison for 20 to life, I’d better get a lot of money instead of maybe 800 bucks at a convenience store.

Our bank are robbed frequently. We also have our cash carriers hijacked and robbed. The center I walk to each day, had a major shoot out over Bidvest Bank’s cash carrier. Here our security guys use AK 47’s. When a cash carrier comes to drop off cash, about four men rush about some hide in pot plants. Luckily I missed about 4 major robberies by seconds, one in a bank I worked in. But here our shops are also robbed with guns. Once I was stuck in a traffic jam while a robbery car was trying to make a get away, with helicopters all over in the air.
I am so glad I am leaving, only so much time then your luck runs out.

@Shippy
It sounds like it makes you uncomfortable too.
I don’t remember it being like this as a child or adult until recently. Not here.
Where are you going?

I was on a jury for a bank robbery that I had not heard about in the local news.

I haven’t heard of a local bank being robbed, but it does seem like America is getting closer and closer to the wild, wild west.

218 bank robberies this year here in Chicago.

There are A LOT of bank robberies in cities – The robbers can disappear into the crowd, subway or traffic.

But, before you get any ideas, they don’t average a lot of money. Something like $2,000 to $4,000. You’re not going to make a living at this.

And it’s a Federal crime. The FBI and the USDOJ have A LOT of resources to go after you.

And you get many years if convicted.

And you serve your full sentence (no parole).

Yep. But it wasn’t an armed robbery. The bank ( My local branch of Lloyds TSB ) was robbed overnight a couple of years ago…

Only the sperm bank, the robbers wore condoms over their heads, the police didn’t see that one coming!

I once walked into a bank about 10–15 seconds after it was robbed.

They locked the doors right after I walked in.

@FutureMemory that had to be confusing as hell for you until ya found out what was up.

Yes. Just a few days ago. Small towns are not immune.

There is some interesting information I just found:

Bank crimes dipped nationwide in 2010, recent FBI statistics show.

The FBI reported last week that there were 5,546 robberies in 2010 — down from 5,943 in 2009.

In Illinois, bank robberies declined to 203 in 2010. In 2009, there were 231 robberies.

Nationally, only $8 million of the $43 million taken was recovered in 2010.

Other bank robbery data in the report included:

† Fridays were the most common day for bank robberies.

† Regardless of the day of the week, the most common hours of bank robberies were between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

† The majority of robbers used written demand notes — 3,142 incidents. Oral demands — sometimes in addition to written notes — were used in 3,096 cases. In the weapons category, a firearm was shown in 1,445 cases. In 2,461 incidents, a weapon was threatened.

† Where gender could be determined by witnesses, most robbers were men — 92 percent.

† Guards were present in only 229 of the robberies.

† Acts of violence were committed in about 4 percent of the incidents, resulting in 106 injuries, 16 deaths and 90 people taken hostage. All but three of the fatalities were the robbers themselves.

† California had the most robberies with 805, followed by Texas with 464. North Dakota reported only two bank robberies.

† Most violations occurred in the Southern region of the United States, with 1,833 reported incidents.

Sun-Times Media (I tried to link to the source to save space here, but I had trouble)

Actually, yes, the day after Thanksgiving at a Wells Fargo about ¾ mile from me.

It’s random.

I was on a jury for a local bank robbery. Apparently it was some sort of gang initiation. Our town (I no longer live there) was 100 miles from LA with a reputation for cops who shoot first and ask questions later. They came in wearing road worker vests. They were caught in a high speed chase after the robbery.