Pubdate: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2008, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Anupreet Sandhu Bhamra ADDICTS DRIVE RISE IN BANK ROBBERIES, POLICE SAY The Hunt for Money to Buy Drugs Leads to Year-To-Year Doubling in Number of Holdups, Making Vancouver National Leader VANCOUVER -- A small cadre of drug-addict thieves has made Vancouver the bank robbery capital of Canada - and maybe North America, Vancouver police said yesterday. On average, one bank gets robbed every business day in Vancouver, nearly 19 times higher than the national average. Bank robberies have more than doubled so far this year, compared with the same period in 2007, said Doug LePard, Deputy Chief of Vancouver police's Investigation Division. Drug addicts are robbing banks to feed their drug habits and pay off drug debts, he said. "Many of them have come to believe that this is a comparatively easy way to make money," Deputy Chief LePard said. Most bank robbers disguise themselves. Typical Vancouver bank robbers don't wear a mask, but wear baseball caps, pull up hoods to hide their faces or wear dark glasses, police say. The banks will be asking people wearing such clothing to reveal themselves. Some of the banks have already started doing so, said Bill Crate, director of security for the Canadian Bankers Association, adding that the banks will be respectful toward religious headgear and regular customers. "It's a careful balance," he said. "It's got to be accessible to the public ... we don't want to create any kind of a fortress." Mr. Crate spoke at a joint press conference with the Vancouver police yesterday morning. Bank robbery is becoming a crisis in Vancouver, police said. The Vancouver Police Department recently arrested six bank robbers known to each other but working separately. These six committed the majority of robberies this year. The police also released photos of two suspects in separate bank robberies. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police or CrimeStoppers. Under a new prevention initiative, police officers will hand out thousands of change purses in the downtown area with the message "Bank robbers get caught." The change purse will have a Vancouver police logo and a CrimeStoppers sticker inside with contact numbers. "Bank robbers will get caught and they will go to jail," Deputy Chief LePard said. The police call it an innovative technique to speak directly to those who want to rob a bank. The police force will also put extra police officers into the project, and plainclothes officers to help identify and arrest bank robbers. Roughly 80 to 90 per cent of Vancouver's robbery cases are solved, and the robbers are convicted and sent to jail, Deputy Chief LePard said. However, bank robberies cause a lot of trauma to the employees; some never come back to work, Mr. Crate said. "Bank robbery is a serious issue facing not only banks and the police in this city, but all businesses and residents," he said. [sidebar] BY THE NUMBERS BANK Robberies per 100,000 citizens in a year National: 1.6 Toronto: 5 Vancouver: 30 Bank robberies, Vancouver Total (2007): 189 To date (2008): 88 (increase of 125 per cent over the same period last year) - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake