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What follows the transaction, however, is rather unordinary. The teller, trembling slightly, reaches under her workstation and pushes a red button, signaling an alarm in a remote surveillance agency�s control room. Within minutes scores of police have descended upon the scene. The teller is interviewed, the surveillance cameras are reviewed and the piece of paper is analyzed. It is not a withdrawal slip, but rather a note that reads: �Good morning. This is a bank robbery. Please give me all you money.�
Such is the reality of most bank robberies in the United States. Contrary to the sensational spin Hollywood and American lore put on such crimes, bank robbery bloodshed is rare. With certain notable exceptions, such as the tragic slaying of five people in a Norfolk, Okla., bank last month, authorities say that many bank robbers don�t even carry weapons.
In Massachusetts, where William Camille robbed six banks during a two-month span in 1999 until police finally caught up with him, an FBI survey discovered that 82 percent of robbers come armed with only a �sharply worded note,� said FBI agent Gerald Buten.
Buten, chief of the FBI�s violent crimes and major offenders program, said there are many contributing factors for this phenomenon. He said that in an effort to reduce confrontation, banks require their tellers to hand over money upon request, whether the suspect has brandished a weapon or not. Also, Buten said that banks are reluctant to employ armed security guards because they know that the risk of the officer accidentally injuring a customer or employee could result in a huge multi-million dollar liability.
�If you rob a convenience store, the guy could have a gun behind the counter,� Buten said. �But when you rob a bank, you�re robbing an industry where tellers are told to comply. If I were a criminal, that would make a bank a more attractive target.�
In 2000, the FBI conducted a survey of all bank robberies nationwide, and concluded that only 5 percent of those acts resulted in violence. Of the 23 fatalities documented in 2000, 19 victims were the bank robbers themselves, while only four were bank employees or customers.
Authorities believe that this perception in the criminal world of bank robbery being a relatively safe crime is a major factor in the steady rise of such robberies over the past few decades. The FBI reported 8,322 bank robberies in 2001, up 17 percent from 2000. Buten says that the nation�s volatile economy is also probably contributing to the sharp increase in just one year. But in the 1980s bank robberies averaged in the 6,000s per year, and just forty years ago the average was as low as 500 per year.
�I could walk into a 7-Eleven and get $100 and a couple of Almond Joys,� said Camille, a 44-year-old father of two from Norfolk, Mass. �Or I could just rob a bank.�
Camille�s career as a bandit began in 1999 after he heard in an Internet chat room that robbing banks was an easy way to make a few quick bucks. More than $25,000 in arrears from bad gambling bets, Camille was desperate to find a way to pay off his bookies. He conducted supplemental research one night at a bar, when he paid a bank teller $100 to give him some tips on how to best conduct a bank robbery. The woman told him that tellers are instructed to just hand over money when confronted. No argument, no struggle, and most importantly, no hidden guns stashed behind the counter.
Today Camille is working with the FBI on a crime-prevention program aimed at youths. Authorities hope that Camille can spread the word that while carnage is rare, bank robbers are among the most commonly apprehended criminals because of witness accounts and security tapes.
