Here’s the FBI’s latest data on robberies of financial institutions for the first three months of 2008.

Alarm Systems

Alarm systems were installed and maintained in 96.2% of all institutions robbed. Of those, they were activated 92.7% of the time, meaning that in 61 robberies the alarm wasn’t activated. Thirteen times an alarm was activated but it didn’t work.

Key Question: In this day and age, how can any bank or credit union not have an alarm system (that works)?

Surveillance Cameras

Cameras were installed in all but 23 institutions that were robbed. In 44 instances, cameras were installed but not activated. Seven times cameras were installed but failed to capture the crime.

Loot Taken: $16 million

Loot Recovered: $2.3 million

Key Takeaways:

• The presence of anti-robbery measures only reduces robberies — it does not prevent them.
• Anti-robbery systems do not work all the time.
• Expect robberies to increase sharply as the economy worsens.

The FBI just released its fourth-quarter robbery data for banks and credit unions. Rather than wait for the FBI to tabulate four quarters and publish its findings, The Financial Brand added it all up and broke it all down for you.

Here’s the raw data for 2007, quarter-by-quarter:
Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTALS

Total bank and credit union robberies down 11.4%

2006 – 6,675
2007 – 5,917

Bank robberies down 11%

2006 – 6,154
2007 – 5,468

Credit union robberies down 14%

2006 – 521
2007 – 449

Injuries occur in 1.3% of all robberies

2006 – 94 incidents
2007 – 74 incidents

Employees are the most likely to be injured

2006 – 75 employees injured
2007 – 49 employees injured

Number of robberies in which deaths occurred

2006 – 13
2007 – 16

Robber is the most likely one to die

2006 – 10 robbers of 13 people killed
2007 – 12 robbers of 18 people killed

The data serves as a reminder that there are ways to engineer safe branch environments without creating “fortresses.” In the comments of The Financial Brand’s previous coverage of the FBI’s 2006 robbery data, Brett Conway of EHS Design suggested checking out SafeCatch, a branch design solution that minimizes risk of robbery. If your branches have security features like bullet-proof glass, you should definitely give it a look.

SafeCatch gets into robber psychology, recommending that front doors should not be visible from the transaction area because robbers always want to keep an eye on their exits. Good point.

The downloadable PDF includes a sample floor plan.