REGION: 'Note jobs' on the rise in area bank robberies

By COLLEEN MENSCHING - Staff Writer | Sunday, July 27, 2008 11:01 PM PDT ∞

It's called a note job.

Someone, usually a man, walks up to a bank teller and slips a piece of paper across the counter.

Note jobs are the most common kind of bank robbery, a crime that decreased nationwide in 2007, but increased in San Diego and Imperial counties, said Special Agent Darrell Foxworth of the FBI's San Diego field office.

In 2006, the two-county area had 146 bank robberies.

In 2007, that number went up to 171.

By July 16 of this year, there had been 108 bank robberies and, if prior years are any indication, there will be more robberies in the second half of 2008 than there were in the first.

Though the majority of bank robbers are drug addicts, a certain type of robber ---- likely to pull a note job ---- may be particularly active in a stagnant economy, said William Rehder, a Los Angeles-based bank robbery consultant formerly with the FBI.

These so-called subsistence bandits aren't necessarily trying to support an addiction. They may have lost their jobs, lost the financial stability of a marriage, or finally cracked under the stress of mounting credit-card debt, Rehder said.

"More recently, of course, they face the home mortgage foreclosure problem," he said. "There have been a number of these folks that maybe wouldn't consider bank robbery ever in their lives ---- but they're facing the world-shaking desperation of these problems and they see this as a last resort."

Robbery is rarely the answer because note jobs typically net no more than $2,500, Rehder said.

The less common, but more lucrative "take-over" robberies are often committed by street gangs, Rehder said.

Successful take-over robbers can walk out of a building with $25,000, Rehder said.

Those incidents, which involved more than one person entering a bank and trying to control the movements of everyone within it, are also the most likely to result in violence, he said.

Though take-over robberies continue to be a rare form of a rare crime ---- federal sources say only 2 of every 100 robberies are bank robberies ---- they are increasing at a notable rate, Rehder said.

What is the number one indicator that robbers will target a particular bank?

That someone already has, experts say.

"It's a phenomenon known as repeat victimization," Rehder said.

Rehder said robbers know they're going to get money no matter which bank they rob ---- because bank employees are trained to give it to them.

The difference between one bank and another comes down to location.

"What they're looking for is the perfect getaway route," Rehder said.

That can mean access to freeways, or the right number of doors, or a good place to stash a car until the bandit can make a break for it.

Just as certain banks are repeatedly hit, certain suspects repeatedly do the hitting, Rehder said.

"It's like a potato chip ---- you can't have just one," he said.

Serial robbers earn monikers, often based on their physical appearance or modus operandi, sometimes pejorative.

The "Scuzzy Bandit," wanted for June and July robberies in Poway and Clairemont, is so called because of his unkempt appearance, officials said. The "Grandpa Bandit," suspected of 2007 and 2008 robberies in Escondido, Carlsbad, and San Marcos, is in his 50s with a white mustache and a beer belly.

In 2007, Carlsbad was the North County city with the most bank robberies thanks to the "Impatient Bandit," crime analyst Fiona Everett said.

So dubbed because he quickly repeated his demands for cash when tellers hesitated during holdups, the Impatient Bandit hit four banks in fewer than three weeks early that year, Everett said.

"He single-handedly destroyed our bank robbery statistics," Everett said.

That year, Carlsbad had 15 bank robberies in 2007, while second-place Escondido had six, according to FBI statistics.

But the Impatient Bandit, who was eventually apprehended, had help later in 2007 from two or three other serial bank robbers, Everett said.

A guide to bank robbery investigation and prevention put out by the U.S. Department of Justice lists some steps banks can take to deter robbers:

-- Installing glass "bandit barriers" between customers and tellers;

-- Restricting bank access to customers with key cards or other identification;

-- Banning customers from wearing hats, sunglasses or other apparel that conceals their facial features;

-- Using "dye packs" that explode and cover the money and robber with red ink once they leave the premises;

-- Designing bank that are less attractive to robbers, such as those that have a great distance between teller windows and exits.

Not all of those options create a friendly bank atmosphere for customers, though.

And none of them will eliminate the problem of bank robbery, Rehder said.

"As long as you're dealing in cash, you're going to have this problem," he said.

Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or cmensching@nctimes.com.

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