Jun 17, 2007 4:31 pm US/Eastern
N.J. On Pace To Reach Record Bank Robberies In 07
HACKENSACK, N.J. (CBS/AP) ―
New Jersey is on pace to reach 200 bank robberies this year, a record that would shatter the 173 heists registered in 2004.
Helping the increase in heists, in part, is "The Mad Hatter"—a middle-aged bank robber known for his ever-changing headgear who has 16 holdups to his credit over the last eight months.
But if the more than 80 bank robberies so far this year isn't enough to make federal authorities nervous, they say a new crop of "takeover" bandits—who fire their gun in the bank and order everyone to the ground—has emerged.
"We've had these groups of violent bank robbers, mostly in central New Jersey, that we haven't seen before," Supervisory Special Agent John Turkington, who heads the FBI's West Paterson office, told The Record of Hackensack for Sunday editions.
In April, a New Brunswick-based crew of takeover bandits was about to rob its fifth bank when an FBI agent was accidentally shot and killed by another agent trying to capture them. A few weeks later, a robber from Maryland was shot and killed by a policeman in Atlantic County after hitting two banks.
Experts say that an increase in the number of bank branches, as well as extended bank hours, coupled with many choosing not to install glass partitions between tellers and customers are making them easier targets for robbers like "The Mad Hatter."
So far, he has made off with $60,000.
"This isn't the first robber who's gone over 10 (heists), and certainly that is pushing it," Robert McCrie, a professor of security management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who has studied bank robbery for 30 years, told the newspaper. "But the environment has changed as well, making it more attractive for robbers."
Banks are installing some safeguards.
Some are using digital security cameras that can send images to computers in police patrol cars. Others have started moving security cameras from the ceiling to behind tellers.
One camera behind a bank teller in Montclair got a straight-on shot of "The Mad Hatter"—nicknamed after a character in the children's classic "Alice in Wonderland" who wore a top hat.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
