BLOODSHED IN THE BANKS

By S.C. Gwynne/Austin

When Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker robbed banks during their legendary two-year crime spree in the 1930s, they did so in part because it was easy. America was a more trusting place, and small-town banks offered unprotected targets and quick getaways. Now, 63 years later, a rapidly growing number of criminals appear to have again decided that robbing banks is easy money--against considerable evidence to the contrary.

After five years of steady decline, the number of bank robberies in the U.S. shot up abruptly in 1996, and has accelerated so sharply in the first three months of 1997 that many cities are experiencing record levels of such crime. In Dallas a bank is robbed almost every other day. At that rate, last year's total of 52 bank jobs will be surpassed in April, while the bank-robbery rate for north and west Texas is expected to jump 200% this year.

And Texas is not alone. In Durham, North Carolina, 10 banks were robbed in January and February, compared with 14 all last year. In 18 counties in central Florida, robberies are already up 61%. Since January, there have been rashes of robberies in Houston, Atlanta, Detroit and Orlando, Florida. And this comes on top of big jumps last year: Colorado, up 65%; Arizona, up 68%; Virginia, three times the level of 1994. Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, which had not had a bank robbery for almost two years, has suffered four in the past four months.

In the tradition of Bonnie Parker, more women are getting in on the act: a solo female robber terrorized banks in Marin County, California, in late 1996; last month in Maryland, a 14-year-old girl under suspension from school was recorded by a bank camera claiming to have a weapon and ordering the tellers to "just do it." And in a string of heists in several states, a mother sat calmly with her three-month-old baby daughter listening to the police monitor while her husband robbed banks.

The most worrisome new development is the so-called takeover robbery, in which an armed gang holds tellers and customers hostage. On Feb. 28, a commando-style assault on a Bank of America branch led to a firefight on the streets of North Hollywood, California, in which two robbers died and dozens of police and bystanders were wounded. In Orange County, California, 17 such takeover robberies occurred last year, up 140% from 1994.

Meanwhile, despite new security technologies, the apprehension rate for bank robberies has held at the same level for the past two decades, at about 65%. So why are so many crooks suddenly emboldened to knock over a bank? No one seems to know. Authorities from the FBI to local sheriff's offices agree that drug addiction plays a big role, but the drug plague is not new. They also point to the proliferation of less secure suburban branches, yet this too is a long-term trend that cannot fully explain the 1996-97 spike.

An unscientific but tantalizing theory is that Hollywood movies are serving as how-to manuals. Authorities point to the 1996 De Niro-Pacino vehicle Heat, which one of the robbers in the North Hollywood shoot-out had repeatedly watched. In Set It Off, starring Queen Latifah, a gang of women successfully robs several banks. Police in Durham noted that the language used in one local robbery was similar to that in the film. "These things are media induced," contends Dallas FBI agent John Skillestad. "Hollywood is portraying bank robberies and glamourizing them."

Even though a civilian is three times as likely to be caught in the middle of a convenience-store stickup as in a bank heist, bank crime is a big image problem for both cities and banks. Memphis, Tennessee, where bank robberies doubled last year, has set up a task force to fight the trend. In Orlando, banks have banded together to share security costs and put up a $90,000 reward. And banks everywhere are rethinking design and location factors that make branches not only consumer friendly but robber friendly as well, such as their being scattered along freeways away from downtown. They are also upgrading the quality of their camera surveillance and looking into new devices such as "mantraps" that can seal off a vestibule at the flick of a teller's switch.

The banks are quick to point out that most bank robbers do get caught and are punished harshly. This crime does not pay, but the criminals seem to have forgotten that.

--With reporting by Hilary Hylton/Austin

With reporting by Hilary Hylton/Austin