With Lots of Old West-Style Bravado, Bank Robberies on the Rise in Arizona

They come in all shapes, sizes, ages: Men wearing business suits, motorcycle helmets, serapes, fake beards, even bright lipstick. Women of all ages with thick glasses, colored purses, sometimes knit caps.

Some whisper, or quietly hand over a threatening note. Others blare it to the world while wielding a weapon: “Hit the floor! This is a holdup!”

Whatever, however, bank robberies are on the rise dramatically in Arizona, and the banking industry and law enforcement are looking at how to respond.

“We’re going to harden the targets,” said Sgt. Bob Webster of the Tucson Police Department’s robbery detail.

FBI statistics show there were 147 bank robberies in the state in 1995. The unofficial tally for 1996 was 263--an increase of 116 robberies.

Sun City, for example, has been left reeling by a string of 12 bank robberies in the last 10 months.

“It’s probably a crime of opportunity, and we feel some of the ones being committed are repeat offenders,” said Maricopa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Jones. “They do it once or twice and if they don’t get caught they’re going to keep doing it.”

One branch of Washington Federal Savings on Tucson’s east side was hit three times in two weeks between Christmas and Jan. 7.

Bank robberies have soared elsewhere in the West as well. Colorado saw a jump to 172 bank robberies in 1996 from 104 the year before.

But, nationally, total bank robberies have dropped every year since peaking at 9,388 in 1991, falling to 6,758 in 1995, according to the American Bankers Assn.

“It isn’t something that a lot of smart people participate in,” said Jack Callahan, an FBI spokesman in Phoenix. “We don’t have any rocket scientists robbing banks.

“They typically get very little money, they do it in broad daylight. Witnesses could be in the hundreds. There’s a good chance they’ll be seen leaving the banks.”

Not only that, but the bulk of bank robbers are caught--and typically get stiff sentences of up to 25 years.

“We have a solution rate in these bank robberies somewhere between 75% and 80%,” Callahan said.

Phoenix Police robbery Sgt. Joe Lease said his department cleared 77% of its bank robberies in 1996, even though the total number of robberies, 96, was double that of the year before.

“A lot of them we catch right after the robberies,” he said. “Sometimes you’re lucky and there’s a field officer riding by.” Other times, a television viewer will recognize a suspect’s picture. Reward offers spur anonymous tips.

Still, catching the robbers often takes time.

“When you look at today’s robbers, before we catch them they’re good for many,” said Kent Porter, vice president and security manager for Wells Fargo in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

“Seldom do we catch the robber on his first robbery. He’s good for 10 or 12. It’s the law of averages, the luck of the draw.”

Drugs are considered a major factor in the increase in bank robberies, Webster said.

“Most of the robbers we arrest are generally robbing to support some drug habit.”

Other reasons include the population growth in Arizona, which has led to a proliferation of bank branches, and security that is heavy on cameras and light on armed guards.

“Grocery-store banks. Big factor,” said Phoenix’s Lease. “There’s not a lot of people in them, usually only a couple of employees, and a suspect can be in and out of there in a minute or two minutes. And once out, he’s in a big crowd of people.”

Lease added that armed guards stopped being a fixture in most banks years ago “because the banking industry really doesn’t want anybody to get hurt. That seems to be pretty much their attitude now, and I can’t say I blame them.”

Some banks that have been robbed repeatedly have hired off-duty police officers who work as security guards in full uniform, Lease said. They aren’t always a deterrent.

“I know of one bank that was robbed while an officer was in the building,” he said.

Putting guards outside banks might help, Callahan and Webster agreed.

“The ideal situation would be floor-to-ceiling glass and cameras and guards in the bank, but the banks tell us this affects their dealings with the customers,” Callahan said.