AP and staff reports

CINCINNATI – Bank robberies hit an all-time high in Greater Cincinnati this year, helping to rank the southern region of Ohio fourth nationwide in heists, the FBI said.

Thursday, December 20, 2001

CINCINNATI – Bank robberies hit an all-time high in Greater Cincinnati this year, helping to rank the southern region of Ohio fourth nationwide in heists, the FBI said.

That’s compared with a ranking of eighth in 2000 for the FBI’s southern Ohio division, which covers the southernmost counties, including Lawrence, as well as Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Middletown and Portsmouth.

"For that area, there’s a very definite upward trend," said special agent Ed Boldt in Cincinnati.

On the other hand, the Portsmouth division has seen local robberies decrease – from an atypical high of 11 in 1999 to three in 2000 to only two this year, Boldt said.

Still, the FBI cannot identify a specific reason that the number of robberies covered by the Cincinnati have increased overall, he said.

"Virtually all robbers have some kind of addiction, whether it’s drugs, gambling or women," Boldt said.

And they are going to banks because they feel it’s the easy way out, he said.

"It’s a bad choice because in the Cincinnati division, historically, we solve close to 70 percent of all robberies, which is above the national average of 60 percent."

Boldt credited that success not only to FBI investigators but local law enforcement, who are the first responders to any robbery in the region.

"Generally speaking, the police and sheriff’s offices do an outstanding job responding and investigating," he said.

Despite the high numbers in Greater Cincinnati, the city still ranks second to Columbus, which has had 126 robberies so far this year and historically outpaces Cincinnati. Columbus had 94 heists in 2000. Dayton, however, dipped to 39 robberies from 61 in 2000.

The Cleveland FBI field office, which covers the rest of the state, reported 160 bank robberies so far this year, down from 171 last year.

Overall, 267 banks have been robbed this year in the counties the Cincinnati FBI office covers. The amount of money taken was not disclosed.

Last year in Hamilton County, there were 55 bank robberies the most in 15 years.

But now the Cincinnati FBI office, which is 42nd in size among FBI offices, ranks fourth in bank robberies behind Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., and San Francisco.

Nationally, however, bank robberies fell this year to 6,453 from 7,130 in 2000.

The local rise in bank robberies comes from several angles, said Dave Welker, supervisory special agent for the Cincinnati FBI office.

”The bottom line is greed,” he said.