NationStates Jolt Archive

This San Diego bank was robbed TWICE in 3 hours, both by bank robbers that have still gone uncaptured after many other sucessful bank holdups.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_fe_st/odd_double_robbery;_ylt=Aq8w8khG8QIG7u0QetXyRXMuQE4F

This although not a bank but an armored car at a bank,literally reads like a bad hollywood movie script.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_re_us/odd_floating_escape;_ylt=AkXH1ftmuuC1QsRAWJpsImwuQE4F


I was in a police station and out of boredom was looking at the Wanted Posters and there were a suprising number of people wanted for Bank Robbery. The photo is of some blurry blob obscured by a houseplant. Is it easier to rob a bank then any hollywood movie would make you think?

I'd imagine most bank robbers are caught. Also the risk:reward ratio is way off. Bank robbery you're looking at 15 years in prison, you'll take maybe 50k from a bank, if it's a big robbery. That doesn't add up even if you got to keep the cash.

It is generally easier/better/smarter just to let the robber get away than do something to try and stop them, so a lot of bank robberies do "succeed." On the other hand, the only crime which you are more less likely to get away with than a bank job is murder.

Do the banks actually have any money to steal?

Ah, once upon a time, you could make a good living as a bank robber as long as you knew your business, never ratted on your fences, and had a good lawyer. My childhood hero when I was a little girl was the great Willie Sutton (he was a safecracker, but still).

I think you can still net decent money if you know your target's habits -- like which branch does what kind of business and when they replenish the cash in the ATMs.

However, I believe the leading kind of bank robbery nowadays is an individual quietly demanding that a teller empty their cash drawer, taking whatever is handed over, and walking out. For safety, most banks instruct tellers not to resist such demands but just to comply and then report it after the robber has left the building. That is one reason why most bank robbers only get small amounts but also seldom get caught unless they are recognized from security cameras. I have read news reports in recent years of bank branches that get hit this way so often, they don't even report robberies of less than a $1000 dollars to the police. They just let insurance cover it.

I have read news reports in recent years of bank branches that get hit this way so often, they don't even report robberies of less than a $1000 dollars to the police. They just let insurance cover it.

Insurance doesnt cover anything without a police report though.

Insurance doesnt cover anything without a police report though.
I meant depositor's insurance. I don't know what kind of paperwork they have to file for that. It's basically just written off as a cost of doing business and the only thing that has be guarded against is loss of depositors' money.

My dad tried to rob a bank once, he got grassed up and spent 6 months in Mountjoy nick!

My dad tried to rob a bank once, he got grassed up and spent 6 months in Mountjoy nick!

Was he working for MI6 at the time?

Was he working for MI6 at the time?

Heh no, he was going through a bad divorce, moved to Ireland with some mates, got drunk sawed off one of his shotguns, planned to rob the bank and got grassed up.

The police caught him at 3:am asleep in his car in the middle of a field.

It depends on the level of intelligence of the robbers, I expect. I heard of one clever robber who had a car in the back (windowless) parking lot with it's trunk (boot) unlatched. He robbed the place, dashed out back, and shut himself in the trunk (leaving a way to re-open it from the inside, as it was an old car). All he had to do was wait for all the fuss to die down and pop out at 2 or 3 in the morning. That could be an urban legend, but it seems to me that if nobody saw you get in the trunk (key point), you'd likely as not get away with it...assuming no dye packs or other traces on the bills.

Heh no, he was going through a bad divorce, moved to Ireland with some mates, got drunk sawed off one of his shotguns, planned to rob the bank and got grassed up.

The police caught him at 3:am asleep in his car in the middle of a field.

Oh so he wasn't one of the Littlejohn brothers. Hope he steered clear of crime after that as he doesn't sound like he was really talented in that direction.

Oh so he wasn't one of the Littlejohn brothers. Hope he steered clear of crime after that as he doesn't sound like he was really talented in that direction.

No not a Littlejohn.

Well lets say I ain't sure if he steered clear or not, but I do know he had to do a runner to Thailand a few years after that one, via Moscow!

Ah, once upon a time, you could make a good living as a bank robber as long as you knew your business, never ratted on your fences, and had a good lawyer. My childhood hero when I was a little girl was the great Willie Sutton (he was a safecracker, but still).

I think you can still net decent money if you know your target's habits -- like which branch does what kind of business and when they replenish the cash in the ATMs.

However, I believe the leading kind of bank robbery nowadays is an individual quietly demanding that a teller empty their cash drawer, taking whatever is handed over, and walking out. For safety, most banks instruct tellers not to resist such demands but just to comply and then report it after the robber has left the building. That is one reason why most bank robbers only get small amounts but also seldom get caught unless they are recognized from security cameras. I have read news reports in recent years of bank branches that get hit this way so often, they don't even report robberies of less than a $1000 dollars to the police. They just let insurance cover it.
i'm sure internet fraud or card theft is more profitable these days. or maybe that's just what the movies are telling me

No not a Littlejohn.

Well lets say I ain't sure if he steered clear or not, but I do know he had to do a runner to Thailand a few years after that one, via Moscow!

I want a movie of his life.

I want a movie of his life.

Ohh wait until he is dead, then I'll get that book written.:D