BANK ROBBERS GROW AGGRESSIVE

TAMPA - Even though bank robberies are declining in number, the crimes
themselves are growing more frightening.

Police and security experts said they see more aggressive, impulsive - and
sometimes stupid - criminals hitting banks nowadays. They operate in
daylight and in populated areas.

And they're armed: Half of the 654 bank robberies committed in Florida in
2000 employed a gun, according to state statistics.

"The potential for grievous harm is higher than perhaps it used to be,''
said Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Katie Hughes.

The most profound local example is Nester Luis DeJesus: The 25-year- old
fumbled his escape after robbing a Bank of America branch two weeks ago,
and then shot and killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero with an
automatic weapon before killing himself.

Local police are looking for at least two other bank robbers.

A robber who used a silver-colored Kia to flee from a bank robbery on Dale
Mabry Highway on Tuesday was "very aggressive and profane'' and brandished
a gun toward everybody in the bank, said Lt. Rod Reder of the Hillsborough
County Sheriff's Office.

That's the kind of criminal to worry about, he said.

So is the muscled robber caught on camera in Brooksville on May 14, feet
firmly planted on the floor of the lobby of a bank, arms extended fully,
holding a semiautomatic handgun.

Another one to watch is the man who held up a supermarket bank branch at
gunpoint during Marrero's funeral, Reder said.

Police think that thief is responsible for other robberies, Reder said. The
criminal typically comes into a bank carrying a newspaper, looks around for
a while, and then shows a teller that he has a gun wrapped in the
newspaper, Reder said.

"But he keeps on getting more and more bold,'' Reder said, showing off the
gun sooner, for instance.

Authorities say there are several reasons today's bank robbers act like
street criminals.

Smarter criminals have moved on to the potentially more lucrative fields of
white-collar crime and computer fraud, said criminologist Philip Quinn, who
teaches at the University of Tampa.

They know, Quinn said, that predators usually get only a couple of thousand
dollars in a bank robbery, that their images will likely be caught on
camera and that alarms will sound.

An unsophisticated robber, by contrast, might think only that a bank
robbery must be easy to get away with because tellers are trained to give
up the money without argument.

Some robbers may not think clearly about any of these obstacles if they're
strung out and robbing to feed a drug habit, said Boris Melnikoff, the
security expert for the American Bankers Association. "You don't know that
individual's state of mind,'' he said.

Drugs are a common motivation, police said.

Some banks are responding to the threats by considering extra measures such
as bulletproof glass and the purchase of higher-quality security cameras,
said Dallas executive James Van Cleave, vice president of Electronic
Tracking Systems, which makes vehicle-tracking equipment for police.

Banks' main priorities are keeping customers and personnel safe, Melnikoff
said, along with getting police evidence that will help them catch the
crooks. (Banks are financially insured against robbery losses.)

And many bank robbers are caught.

Nationally, 58 percent of bank robbers are caught within a year of the
crime, Melnikoff said. Within two years, 63 percent are caught, he said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office solved 19 of 27 bank robberies
that occurred in the county in the 12- month period beginning July 17, 2000.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports solving 41 percent of the
654 bank robberies from the year 2000.

The concern officers have now is catching dangerous robbers quickly before
they inflict harm. They urge the public to report people acting
suspiciously in a bank, and to call Crime Stoppers (1-800-873-8477) with
any tips regarding suspects caught on camera.

The changing profile of bank robberies should not be a cause for panic,
said TPD's Hughes. But, she added, "it is definitely a concern to the
community and to law enforcement.''