Bank robberies in Southland drop for first time in six years.

FBI credits stricter laws, security steps for decline

Bank robberies in the greater Los Angeles area -- known as the bank robbery capital of the United States -- are down 35 percent so far this year, marketing the first time in six years their number has declined, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

From January through August, 1,178 bank robberies were committed in the FBI's Los Angeles district, 631 fewer than for the like period last year, according to Kenneth Jacobsen, supervisor of the bank robbery unit of the L.A. FBI office. In all of 1992 ther were 2,641 bank robberies in the greater L.A. area, Jacabosen said.

"It is a big drop," said Jacobsen, whose office investigates bank robberies in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange countries. "We're very pleased."

Before this year, the number of bank robberies in the seven-county greater L.A. area had been spiraling steadily upward since 1987. Local bank robberies increased almost 50 percent in 1991, compared with 1990, and another 20 percent in 1992, Jacobsen said.

If this year's trend holds up, there will be fewer robberies in 1993 than there were in 1992 or 1991, Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen cited a number of factors contributing to the drop in robberies. Among them, he said, are that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have arrested a number of bank robbers and put them behind bars, and criminals are being disuaded by new, longer federal sentences for bank robbery convictions.

Also, bank robbers seemingly have move from greater Los Angeles to San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland and Las Vegas, Jacobsen said. While L.A. has experieced a decline in robberies, the San Diego office of the FBI has seen a 28 percent increase in bank robberies so far this year over the like period last year, Jacobsen said.

Jon Nakamura, staff liaison of the bank security committee for the California Banking Association, said bank robberies statewide are not down by much in 1993 over 1992 becuase of increased robberies in San Diego and Northern and Central California.

Bank robbers "ae moving from the urban areas into the suburban areas," Nakamura said. Nakamura and Jacobsen said that robbers may have moved to escape the intense security measures banks have focused on branches in the Los Angeles area.

Jacobsen cited cooperation between California banks and law enforcement agencies as another factor contributing to the decrease in local bank robberies.

For the past year, security officials from local banks have been meeting on a quarterly basis with Charlie Parsons, special agent in charge of the L.A. FBI office, to share information about robberies and to brainstrom about ways to stop them, Jacobsen said.

On a related front, the Bankers Association in January inaugurated a 24-hour hotline where callers can provide information about bank robberies. Callers can receive rewards of up to $50,000 if their tip leads to a conviction, noted Don Tokunaga, director of security for First Interstate Bank of California.

One of the newer tactics banks are undertaking to deter robbers is to install so-called bandit barriers, panes of bulletproof glass extending up from the bank counter between teller and customers. Jacobsen said.

"We know that banks with bandit barriers are robbed less (often)," Jacobsen said.

Banks, particularly the big three California banks -- San Francisco-based Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank and Los Angeles-based First Intersate Bank of California -- have spent millions of dollars installing hundreds of bandit barriers in branches all over the state, with a particular emphasis on los Angeles County branches. They began installing the barriers, at an average cost of about $50,000 per branch, in late 1992 and early 1993.

"It think they have really helped," said Mike Devitt, security manager for the Southern California division of Wells Fargo. No only have bandit barriers prevented robberies from occurring, the barriers have also prevented high monetary losses in the robberies that do occur, Devitt said.

But there have been problems with the barriers, Devitt conceded. At some branches, armed bank robbers have scaled the glass wall, robbed the tellers and then scrambled back over the barrier. As a result of these incidents, bandit barriers have been redesigned, according to bank security officials.

Deborah Jacob, director of corporate security for Bank of America, said the new barriers either go all the way to the ceiling or have rollers on the top to prevent bandits from getting a grip and hoisting themselves over.

The drop in robberies is "one of the more amazing things I've seen," Jacob said. She added that she has been working as a bank security officer for 14 years, and bank robberies have been going up "for as many years as I can remember."

Robberies at Bank of America branches have declined 43 percent so far this year, Jacob said.

Security officials at First Interstate and Wells Fargo also reported declines in robberies at their branches. Officials from each of those banks reported declines of about 20 percent so far this year, compared with the like period last year.

But there is some bad news. Bank "takeover" robberies, in which armed bandits take control of a branch by brandishing weapons and often verbally and physically assaulting customers and employees, are up.

Despite the recent decline in bank robberies, the Los Angeles area still has a long way to go to get to "normal" level of bank robberies, said Jacobsen. In recent years, banks robberies in the Los Angeles FBI region have accounted for about 25 percent of all bank robberies in the U.S., he noted.

In 1992, which Jacobsen described as "a rocket year," bank robberies in the seven-county L.A. area accounted for 29 percent of all robberies nationwide, he noted.