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During 1997, Washington is averaging about 10 bank robberies per week, most occurring in the Seattle area. Only California, Florida, New York and Maryland ranked higher than Washington in statistics released for 1995 year-end.
Hardly a surprise, California had 2,012 bank heists. Florida had 556, New York had 315, Maryland had 291 and Washington had 269.
Police reportedly solve nearly 80 percent of the crimes; however, the percentage of money recovered falls far below that number because so many of the crooks are drug users who make immediate purchases with the stolen money.
FBI statistics compiled on more than 8,000 1995 robberies, show that the perpetrators were mostly young to middle-aged men, split evenly between white and black. Hispanics and “others” accounted for another 800-plus. About 300 women made the list.
In total, over $59 million was stolen—yet only about $10 million was recovered. Interestingly, only 801 tear-gas or marker-dye packs went out the doors with the stolen money. Most robbers did not carry visible weapons.
Fifty nine million may sound like a lot, but it pales by comparison to the estimated $10 billion that is stolen annually by check-fraud.
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