Of course, if there is some whiz-bang or interesting things going on, we can't talk about them. Bruce Koppe, executive director of the Washington Bankers Association, said financial institutions pay close attention to geographic and demographic patterns of robberies. They adjust security accordingly. The barriers are bullet-proof Plexiglas that screen tellers from customers. The reasons that banks have seen such a surge of robberies, including a record 357 in 1998, vary.
Police often blame robberies on drugs.
Addicts need money to feed their habits with cash, and banks have plenty. Many robbers are heroin addicts, the FBI's Burroughs said. Washington also has plenty of bank branches from which to choose and long banking hours in which to commit their crimes, she said. California, which regularly gets blamed for any manner of ills in the Northwest, also gets the blame for bank robberies. Authorities there have substantially reduced robberies, and the robbers go where the opportunities are.