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In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour
- billy99k 3y agoRobberies still happen. The banks and police just don't make it public. I worked for a bank around 2005-2010. There was an attempted robbery at least 3 times when I worked there. Nobody outside the bank really knew about it and it never made it to any news outlets. I wonder how common it still is.
- strict9 3y agoStill happens somewhat regularly, as I've found following scanner accounts for my city on twitter. But today the bags are tagged with gps trackers and they're almost always caught.
- ForkMeOnTinder 3y agoIt's a good thing the robbers don't seem to know about faraday cages.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoHowever, the score is frequently minimal, where they just take what it is in the front cash registers. Random website [0] > The vast majority of bank robberies are relatively unsuccessful affairs, having netted criminals just $7,500 in 2010 on average, according to the FBI. [0] https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/06/11/what-you-should-know-before-robbing-a-bank https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/06/11/what-you-sho...
- corbezzoli 3y agoMaybe you don’t get rich, but 7,500 tax-free dollars for a 2-minute job sound like a good deal, once you get the hang of it. Maybe I should switch careers…
- ZanyProgrammer 3y agoAssuming you don't get caught, which if you keep on bank robbing probably increases the odds you do.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoThe risk isn’t worth it to most unless you are really desperate for a stay in the fed. At least you get fed and don’t sleep unsheltered.
- kortilla 3y agoCaught by a fed and thrown in the fed where at least you get fed.
- paulpauper 3y agoor be a politician. they seem to make a lot of $ for little work
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoThey do work. Just not the work you want them to do.
- gosub100 3y agobank robbery is automatically upgraded to the FBI and has (IIRC) a minimum sentence of 7 years, worse if you use a real weapon. I'm sure there are other ways to commit a petty offense or 2 that would net the same amount with less risk.
- wslh 3y agoDoes bank offices have a lot of cash now? Just thinking that the use if card and mobile payments reduced the cash in place. Just curious ;-)
- CSSer 3y agoI have an ex who worked for a bank. No, they do not. In fact, a lot of customers get pretty angry they can’t “just have their money” on a whim because bank offices are now extremely strict about knowing when, why, and for how long a given bank will have beyond a certain threshold of funds, and they generally work hard to keep it below that threshold.
- kodt 3y agoYeah, I wanted to pay a contractor in cash. The amount was under $1,000. The bank would not allow me to take that much out without calling them a day or two in advance. (I did later find out that same branch had been robbed earlier that month)
- yieldcrv 3y agoThat bank and your relationship with that bank you shouldn’t have to be limited to a payment/custody system where you think about it but that’s how it is always fix your banking rails before you need them
- encoderer 3y agoNot being able to access $1k cash is inexcusable. I would switch banks.
- SoftTalker 3y agoYeah that's not really a lot of money these days. I had no trouble last year walking in to my bank and getting $7,000 in cash to buy a car. They didn't have it in the drawer at the counter, but it took them just a few minutes to go the the back room/vault and get it.
- fells 3y ago> The banks and police just don't make it public. Is there evidence of this? Anytime someone mentions declining crime rates its always with "well, they clearly don't report it!"
- jstarfish 3y agoThe statement should be that the media doesn't report on it anymore. Bank robbery hysteria was a fad from the 70s. Read your local newspaper or the police department crime blotter; bank robberies still happen. The take is diminishing and the risks increasing though. ROI is better on ATM theft. Clever thieves can subvert them with USB malware through hidden access panels. They still run crap like Windows CE (or whatever the Embedded version was).
- Simulacra 3y agoBanks in small towns, and remote areas, still present an enticing target for robbers.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3y agoThough it must be said the percentage of armed customers increases the more rural you go. Due to local laws, it's a fairly safe bet in Los Angeles that few if anyone has a weapon more dangerous than a pocket knife. In small town Texas or Alabama, there will be a much higher percentage of armed customers, and a non-zero number will have a hero complex.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoI can’t imagine putting myself in harms way for a a bank of all things.
- PhilipRoman 3y agoIt's not necessarily about the bank - some people think that living in a civilized society is nice and from their point of view every violent crime, be it against a bank or anything else, is a step away from that.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3y ago^^ This. Exactly correct.
- andsoitis 3y agoprior discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25511220 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25511220
- setgree 3y agothis post opened my eyes to important context about 80s and 90s action movies. Watching them 10-20 years later, I often thought, how are there so many darn banks getting robbed? Turns out, ‘Heat’ is more realistic than I understood (at least in this one respect). Spike Lee’s ‘Inside Man’ is kind of a throw back to that era’s preoccupations.
- mysterydip 3y agoThe local branch of my bank changed to having no tellers, ATM-only. There's a couple people inside to talk loans and such, but they have no cash. I wonder if this is one of the reasons (besides cost savings having less employees).
- chiph 3y agoMy credit union did this several years ago - marketing them as "Cyber Branches". They're basically ATMs with video conferencing added. There are advantages, like increased employee & customer safety and lower costs. But I like to use uncirculated bills as gifts and now there is no one there to get them for me.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoThat is a pretty popular development, I have encountered banks where cash withdrawals are ATM-only for nearly a decade. What sucks, however, is if the bank imposes a fee after X number of ATM transactions (sometimes as little as two withdrawals). Then, with a maximum ATM withdrawal of 300€ or so, withdrawing a couple of thousand is going to incur a larger amount of fees than with the old cash from the teller system. Of course, with the world moving away from cash, fewer and fewer people will be affected by this.
- corbezzoli 3y agoI think that’s great, I don’t know what’s taking so long. ATM that dispense money have been around for decades, why isn’t the other way around the default by now? Using the ATM literally saves the bank money.
- ddmichael 3y agoGood times.
- michael1999 3y agoBoy-howdy — Vietnam left a mark.
- greesil 3y agoCite yer sources
- michael1999 3y agoVietnam had 50k KIA, and taught a generation of young conscripts how to stick with their buddies, and how to dish out organized violence. Many of them returned to become normal businessmen, labourers, lawyers, and doctors. Some others bounced off normal society. They enjoyed their new lifestyle and found ways to apply their new talents (guns, fighting, and running drugs). Motorcycle gangs were the archetype. WW2 and Vietnam vets formed the backbone of several outlaw motorcycle gangs. Founded by vets: - Bandidos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Eugene_Chambers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Eugene_Chambers - Hells Angles - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels#History Russia is just starting to relive the joys of young men returning from an ugly war with ugly new skills. Their last round was Afghanistan, and that was a kids' party in comparison.
- greesil 3y agoYeah, sure. But I was confused about its relation to bank robberies specifically, and if this was a well studied thing or something. It's plausible sure, but is there data showing that a significant portion of the robbers were former military?
- lsllc 3y agoIf anyone hasn't seen Michael Mann's Heat, put it on your to-watch list. It's an excellent movie and of course features a bank robbery in LA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_(1995_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_(1995_film)
- mongol 3y agoFirst movie where Pacino and De Niro played against each other. One of the best movies I know.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ks2048 3y agoAnd if you're interested in bank robberies and Al Pacino (this one in NYC and a true story), you have to include Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Day_Afternoon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Day_Afternoon
- dopeboy 3y agoMy favorite of all time. He also released a book, Heat 2, if you want more. I am 30 pages in and it’s good so far.
- toomanyrichies 3y agoOne of my favorite movies. Mann recently wrote a novelized sequel, "Heat 2", and has said it's his next film project. I read the book and am, let's say, not optimistic about the prospects for the film version. I hope he proves me wrong.
- bazmattaz 3y agoSame. Some movies, like Heat, should just be left alone. No sequels, prequels, nothing
- kyle_grove 3y ago
- Condition1952 3y agoCould nobody foresee it? That’s an unlucky bank.
- DueDilligence 3y ago[dead]
- lostlogin 3y agoThe title is like the dad joke. ‘Every day a pedestrian is hit by a car on Main street. He is getting really annoyed.’
- RockyMcNuts 3y agothe crime panic is an outlandish joke to anyone alive in the 80s https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-10-20/killings-in-the-u-s-are-dropping-at-an-historic-rate-will-anyone-notice-essential-politics https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-10-20/killi...
- Clamchop 3y agoThere's a now-notorious group of voters born two or three decades before the 80s that largely don't think it's outlandish at all.
- 01100011 3y agoYes and no. It's interesting to see the debate going on in Seattle regarding crime right now. What I can say is that, while crime rates may not be scary compared to, say, the early 90s, what is different is that in the 90s you had to go to bad areas to experience it. Now the crime comes to you. It is much more widespread in areas 'normal' people frequent. Part of that has to do with the revitalization of downtowns that occurred then(when millennials and gays began cleaning them up?), I think. Back in the 80s and early 90s, you didn't go to downtowns unless you worked there.
- mikequinlan 3y agoCouldn't they have posted some police at that bank to stop the thefts?
- Lammy 3y ago> With more than six million vehicles and more than 1,000 miles of freeway upon which to roam, Los Angeles has created a landscape ideal for bank robberies. This entire article is anti-freeway anti-freedom-of-movement propaganda. In the future the only thing that will have freedom of movement is capital, not humans.
- HomeDeLaPot 3y agoEntire article? Did you read it all? That was brought up early on, but the rest of the article focused on other reasons why bank robberies spiked (e.g. cocaine) and why they declined again (e.g. less coke usage, harsher sentencing).
- jrflowers 3y agoThis bank sounds like a terrible workplace.