Bank Robberies Up 8%, FBI Says; O.C. Is Steady

The number of bank robberies in Orange County remained steady over the last year but spiked dramatically in the San Fernando Valley and Riverside, FBI officials said Tuesday.

Orange County recorded 139 bank robberies in 2000, compared with 140 in 1999. But “takeover robberies,” in which criminals take control of a bank branch, rose in the Santa Ana region to 36 last year from 29 in 1999.

For all of Southern California, there were 694 bank robberies last year, up 8% from 639 in 1999.

Bank robberies had declined every year but one since 1992, when there were a record 2,641. Though most bank robberies are not violent, there was also an 8% increase regionwide last year in the takeover robberies.

“An 8% rise is not much [regionwide], but it’s enough to be disconcerting because it had been going down until now,” said James DeSarno, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles bureau.

However, the jump in bank-related crime in outlying areas is a “major concern,” DeSarno said. In Riverside, there was a 44% increase in robberies, from 64 in 1999 to 92 last year. And the 60 robberies in the San Fernando Valley represent a 62% increase from 1999.

DeSarno said much of the increase can be blamed on street gang activity and the work of a few serial bank robbers, including one known as the Kangaroo Bandit, who authorities say has robbed 24 banks from Laguna Niguel to Saugus since 1999.

“If you get the right 10 bank robbers off the street, you’re going to have an incredible effect on the numbers,” DeSarno said.

DeSarno said the region is prone to bank robberies because of its numerous freeways, large population and large number of banks. The Los Angeles region again had the highest number of bank robberies in the nation. According to preliminary figures, the next closest city was Detroit, with 326, followed by Seattle, with 311.

Although law-enforcement agencies have been working with banks to improve security, West Coast branches are generally much “friendlier places” than their East Coast counterparts, which generally feature bulletproof, glass-encased teller windows, the FBI’s DeSarno said. “Here, you reach across and grab a teller any time you walk into a bank.”

Southern California banks have been trying to beef up security through protective features and by moving branches to supermarkets, whose crowds offer more protection from robberies, DeSarno said.

The counties included in the study were Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.