As 60 federal agents, police and banking executives met Monday to discuss the rash of bank robberies occurring in the metro area, another bank was robbed a mile and a half away.
“There is an epidemic of bank robberies, and we are doing what we can do to address that,” said James H. Davis, special agent in charge of the Denver FBI.
Law enforcement and banking officials meet regularly with detectives on the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, but Monday’s meeting was called to talk more about what each side can do to prevent the rising trend.
As the group met at the Denver Police Protective Association at 2105 Decatur St., a bank was robbed in the 2700 block of Speer Boulevard, said Denver police Chief Gerald Whitman.
Hiring more security guards, updating anti-theft technology and asking customers to take off sunglasses and hats when they enter banks could be prevention methods adopted by banking executives, said Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.
“Having someone greet customers at the door may turn a bank robber away,” he said.
Samuel Clarke, chief security officer for United Western Bank, said the price of anti-theft technology is coming down, and teaching employees how to use the technology is key.
Denver FBI statistics show the highest number of bank robberies in the past five years occurred in 2006 with 221 banks hit in Colorado and Wyoming.
But in 2007 and 2008, the numbers dropped to 125 and 150 robberies.
At the end of 2009, there were 208 bank robberies in the two states.
FBI Special Agent Kathleen Wright said the Wyoming numbers are typically in the single digits, and a majority of the robberies are occurring in Colorado.
Whitman said detectives cleared 81 percent of the bank robberies in the metro area in 2008, which should give pause to anyone thinking of robbing banks.
“It is highly likely they will be apprehended and do 20 to 25 years,” he said.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
