The concept of robbing a bank might seem more like fiction fit for an old Western than a reality for Athens County, but top local law enforcement officials agree that robberies aren’t an unusual phenomenon.
Data from the FBI and Athens County Sheriff’s Office show bank robberies have gone up in the county but have consistently dropped nationwide.
That’s mindboggling for Sheriff Pat Kelly, who claims all bank robberies within his direct jurisdiction have been solved.
“One would think that’d be a deterrent,” Kelly said. He believes a poor economy in the county is leading to more bank robberies because people incredibly short on cash are getting desperate.
While Kelly’s office handles crime throughout the county, Athens is under Athens Police Department’s direct jurisdiction. So when Kelly says no robbery has gone unsolved during his time in office, he means ones that don’t involve other local agencies. Similarly, the FBI only gets involved in local bank robberies if a bank is federally insured or if local law enforcement asks for help.
Kelly said Athens County sees more bank robberies than others in Southeastern Ohio.
Since 2008 there have been at least eight bank robberies in Athens County.
The most recent one took place at the JP Morgan Chase & Co., 920 E. State St., in Athens on Aug. 26. It was the second bank robbed this year.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said that the recent robberies shouldn’t depict an increase or decrease in the amount of robberies to take place in the city.
“If we had (a bank robbery) every two weeks, I’d say we have a problem, but it’s not like that,” Pyle said, even though the city has seen two bank robberies this year.
There were 5,014 bank robberies nationwide in 2011, according to the most recent data made available online by the FBI. That number might sound steep, but the number of bank robberies nationwide has decreased by about 33 percent since 2003, the earliest year the FBI provides data online.
Still, the feds say bank robberies remain a huge crime in the U.S. In 2011 alone, more than $30 million was stolen and more than 100 people were killed or injured.
“The cost is probably greatest to the bank clerks and employees involved. The trauma and psychological aspects I’m sure affects them the most,” Thomas Vander Ven, OU associate professor of sociology and criminology, said. “As far as the financial loss, it’s not very great.”
The average bank robber makes off with $7,500, he said.
“I think (the assailant) is imagining hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he added.
As more dollars are given back and more robbers are caught, the number of occurrences in Athens should go down over time — even with a tough economy, Kelly said.
“People are going to get an idea … If you’re going to rob a bank, don’t do it in Athens County.”
—Local Editor Joshua Jamerson contributed to this report.
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