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A few fun side notes about bank robberies. I used to be a bank teller and we were instructed under no uncertain terms to hand over whatever we had and enjoy a

A few fun side notes about bank robberies. I used to be a bank teller and we were instructed under no uncertain terms to hand over whatever we had and enjoy a week of paid vacation to recover from any potential trauma suffered. The bank I worked for had a corporate security team who wouldn’t even stop their lunch break to review one isolated robbery, instead they’d look for serial cases, or occasionally assess how likely it was that it had any “inside job” elements if the robbery didn’t fall within standard profiles. The actual “vault” in most branches is barely bigger than a high school locker inside the room behind the big metal door. Most everything else kept behind that huge metal door is administrative or customer related documents (arguably worth more than the cash itself!). Lastly, about once a week, I was tasked with filling the ATMs for a branch that was in a downtown office building lobby. The ATMs were in a wall and had a little secret door that I’d access to audit the machines and count the money I’d refill them with. Each machine could hold 200k or so and there were two of them but there was no real clear way to get the $400,000 from our secured vault to the machines without armed security or something. In order to avoid having to order an escort every time, we’d just load the cash into a printer paper box and stealthily walk it across the lobby like I was just carrying actual printer paper (insert your federal reserve jokes here). It’d take 2-3 hours to audit and refill the machines, meaning I would have had a nice head start if I had the guts and gray morality to make a run for it.

dmoy 6y ago
I had family who worked in banking for a long time The policies across the board are to just hand over money. As a result, there's essentially zero fatalities from bank robbery. Maybe a few every year, usually the criminal themselves. However, bank robbers only get away with about 10% of cases. Clearance rates are super, super high now. And because they're usually serial, almost every single bank robber gets caught. There's a whole slew of tactics used.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  > The policies across the board are to just hand over money. Makes perfect sense. They lose a few bucks, vs the $$$$ they'd have to pay in the lawsuit. Let the cops deal with the crooks.
  - dmoy 6y ago
    They don't lose a few bucks, it's insured. I vaguely recall it's part of FDIC even.
    - WalterBright 6y ago
      > They don't lose a few bucks, it's insured. That's not how insurance works. If you file claims against the insurance company, they pay the claim, but your rates go up to cover it. YOU wind up paying.
      - ficklepickle 6y ago
        I can't believe you were down-voted for that. It is absolutely true. Insurance, especially for things likely to happen, is basically a payment plan.
    - sharkweek 6y ago
      This isn’t true but appreciate that it’s what most people think. Just gets written off as a loss. Same goes for cashing bad checks, etc.
kabdib 6y ago
A friend of mine (now deceased) robbed a bank once. His side of the story was that he walked into the bank (unarmed, by the way) and simply demanded money; they gave it to him and he walked out. He said he was astonished at how smoothly the whole thing went. Upon exiting the bank he just continued to walk away, turned a couple of corners, and was never caught. His take was about 80 dollars. Later on, he got clean and sober and told his sponsor about the episode. Part of recovery is that you're supposed to be willing to make amends for the damage you've done. His sponsor thought about that one, and said, "You know what? I think we're going to let that one pass." Probably a good decision.
- sharkweek 6y ago
  I guarantee the average success rate of a person’s first bank robbery rubs up against 100% - it’s the unwillingness to stop while you’re ahead that gets people caught. I’d guess my average teller drawer value was somewhere between 2-5k “unlocked” and maybe another 5k kept locked below my station. Not exactly “let’s leave the country and live like kings” money.
  - webnrrd2k 6y ago
    FWIW, I knew a guy, briefly, who committed over 70 bank robberies. He was a next door neighbor of a friend of mine who lived in subsidized housing for the elderly. The robber had a strict schedule in and out in two, maybe three minutes once the robbery started. However, he got caught on the last one - because he stayed too long. As a side note, I met him as he was dying of cancer, and my friend would help take care of him. Id pitch in, but it was mostly my friend doing the day-to-day helping. Absolutely f*ing heartbreaking. There was no one else in his life - no friends, no family, nothing. He was bitter and alone. It was brutal watching him die over a few months.
    - jlgaddis 6y ago
      > However, he got caught on the last one ... I guess it makes sense that he quit robbing banks once he got caught.
    - 6y ago

dmoy 6y ago

I had family who worked in banking for a long time The policies across the board are to just hand over money. As a result, there's essentially zero fatalities from bank robbery. Maybe a few every year, usually the criminal themselves. However, bank robbers only get away with about 10% of cases. Clearance rates are super, super high now. And because they're usually serial, almost every single bank robber gets caught. There's a whole slew of tactics used.

WalterBright 6y ago
> The policies across the board are to just hand over money. Makes perfect sense. They lose a few bucks, vs the $$$$ they'd have to pay in the lawsuit. Let the cops deal with the crooks.
- dmoy 6y ago
  They don't lose a few bucks, it's insured. I vaguely recall it's part of FDIC even.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    > They don't lose a few bucks, it's insured. That's not how insurance works. If you file claims against the insurance company, they pay the claim, but your rates go up to cover it. YOU wind up paying.
    - ficklepickle 6y ago
      I can't believe you were down-voted for that. It is absolutely true. Insurance, especially for things likely to happen, is basically a payment plan.
  - sharkweek 6y ago
    This isn’t true but appreciate that it’s what most people think. Just gets written off as a loss. Same goes for cashing bad checks, etc.

kabdib 6y ago

A friend of mine (now deceased) robbed a bank once. His side of the story was that he walked into the bank (unarmed, by the way) and simply demanded money; they gave it to him and he walked out. He said he was astonished at how smoothly the whole thing went. Upon exiting the bank he just continued to walk away, turned a couple of corners, and was never caught. His take was about 80 dollars. Later on, he got clean and sober and told his sponsor about the episode. Part of recovery is that you're supposed to be willing to make amends for the damage you've done. His sponsor thought about that one, and said, "You know what? I think we're going to let that one pass." Probably a good decision.

sharkweek 6y ago
I guarantee the average success rate of a person’s first bank robbery rubs up against 100% - it’s the unwillingness to stop while you’re ahead that gets people caught. I’d guess my average teller drawer value was somewhere between 2-5k “unlocked” and maybe another 5k kept locked below my station. Not exactly “let’s leave the country and live like kings” money.
- webnrrd2k 6y ago
  FWIW, I knew a guy, briefly, who committed over 70 bank robberies. He was a next door neighbor of a friend of mine who lived in subsidized housing for the elderly. The robber had a strict schedule in and out in two, maybe three minutes once the robbery started. However, he got caught on the last one - because he stayed too long. As a side note, I met him as he was dying of cancer, and my friend would help take care of him. Id pitch in, but it was mostly my friend doing the day-to-day helping. Absolutely f*ing heartbreaking. There was no one else in his life - no friends, no family, nothing. He was bitter and alone. It was brutal watching him die over a few months.
  - jlgaddis 6y ago
    > However, he got caught on the last one ... I guess it makes sense that he quit robbing banks once he got caught.
  - 6y ago