7% of Robberies Were at CUs

During second quarter of 2010, roughly 1,146 robberies and incidental crimes affecting financial institutions were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of those, 85 or 7% were at credit unions.

Commercial banks were hit by 1,013 instances, said the FBI's report, released last week. Credit unions were second highest with the 85, followed by savings and loan associations with 26 robberies, then mutual savings banks, with 11.

The figures are not a complete statistical picture of the nation's robberies of financial institutions because not all are reported to the FBI.

The agency noted that in 91% of the incidents, suspects stole more than $8.4 million, mostly in cash but about $4,130 in checks, including traveler's checks. Of that amount, 21% --more than $1.3 million--was recovered.

Bank crimes continued the trend of occurring most frequently on Friday, traditionally pay day. Monday was the second-most popular day for the crimes. Regardless of the day, the most popular time of day for bank crimes occurred from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Five percent of the robberies included acts of violence, resulting in 23 injuries, five deaths and nine persons taken hostage.

Oral demands and demand notes were the most common method used by the culprits.

The most crimes occurred in the Western U.S., which reported 403 incidents. The South had 348 robberies. North Central and Northeast regions had 212 and 163 incidents, respectively.

Among states, Pennsylvania financial institutions reported the most robberies--62, followed by Illinois with 56, Ohio with 49, New York with 48, and Georgia with 42 incidents.