MANSFIELD — There might be more inane crimes to commit, but bank robbery is right up near the top.
According to FBI numbers, bank robberies have been on a national downward slope since 2008. But every time it happens close to home, those numbers seem to vanish and the most important thing becomes catching the man or woman who did it.
According to Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon, the robbers are almost always caught. The scenario came into play last week when Christopher B. Edmonds was arrested. Authorities say he is the area’s most recent culprit.
We sat down with Sheldon recently to chat about the extremely long odds of successfully robbing a bank, along with some other interesting tidbits about bank robberies. What we found was not surprising.
RICHLAND SOURCE: According to the FBI’s most recent numbers, there were 5,086 robberies in 2011 — that includes bank robberies (stealing during business hours), bank burglaries (breaking in when the bank is closed), and bank larceny. This number is down from 5,546 violations in 2010, 5,943 in 2009 and 6,700 in 2008. Why do you think the trend is going down?
SHELDON: I think people are realizing how futile robbing a bank is. The chances of getting caught are just phenomenal. You know, obviously, there’s a lot of evidence that can be obtained right there at the scene — photographs, possible finger prints and DNA.
RS: How much time on average does a person have before they get caught?
SHELDON: Sometimes it’s rather quickly. Sometimes, days or weeks, or even months. But for the most part … I don’t know that we or the FBI bat 1,000, but I bet we bat in the .900s. I think the success of solving anything at a bank is usually pretty good.
RS: And then how much time can a guilty culprit expect to be behind bars?
SHELDON: Well, actually, it depends if the case goes local or federal or if there is a weapon involved. But you can look at 20 to 30 years for doing a bank robbery. And you know, crime has never really made a lot of sense to me in a way. In my career, I’ve seen people walk in to convenient stores with a gun, rob it for $50 and end up going to prison for 10 or 15 years … it just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like, if you’re that hard up for cash, why not just come to the office and we’ll give you $50. It would save money in the long run.
RS: So how much time is tacked on if they do brandish a weapon?
SHELDON: In the state of Ohio, it’s three years.
RS: So it sounds counterproductive to bring a gun to the party since you’ll probably get more with a nicely written note especially if it’s legible and you say ‘please.’ And you’ll spend less time in prison.
SHELDON: … Yes.
RS: How much does the sheriff’s office rely on outside resources, like the FBI or other law enforcement agencies, to catch the bad guy?
SHELDON: Well, typically, the FBI is sort of an afterthought. When the sheriff’s office gets a call of a bank robbery, it’s all our units that are responding. We try to notify the FBI right away. All the agencies try to work together.
And the news media is a huge source for us because what happens, a lot of times, there’s going to be photographs. So you put out that picture to the media and you get all sorts of calls from the public saying, ‘I know who that is, I know who that is!’ So someone is going to recognize that photo.
RS: Back to the FBI statistics here for a minute. In 2011, of the 3,263 of the identified robbers, 1,229, 37 percent, were determined to be “users of narcotics.” Assuming these people are spending their loot on feeding their drug habits, what are the rest of them spending it on?
SHELDON: (laughter) I’m kind of surprised at the statistic about narcotics because I thought it would be higher than that. Like if you look at the state prison, there’s about 52,000 (inmates) there. There’s about 30 to 35 percent with mental health issues. And there might be as many as 60 or 70 percent who have substance abuse problems. So I would have guessed that the number would have been higher.
… And typically the people are self-serving and certainly have a purpose for their money, not to donate it to charity. And they show no remorse — unless they’re caught. Then all of a sudden they’re remorseful.
RS: Where are these local bank robbers going to end up? Here at MANCI, RICCI, or other state prisons elsewhere?
SHELDON: Sometimes you see different bank robberies in our area, and I’ve seen them go to both. I’ve seen them go local, through the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office and I’ve seen them go federal. It just depends on the circumstance of the case.
RS: In the eyes of the FBI, what is the difference between robbing a bank versus an American Girl store?
SHELDON: (laughter) It’s kind of funny, as a society, how we look at things. We give a hierarchy to things. The reality is, to me, whether you rob this person or you rob that person, you still rob somebody. If somebody’s committed a crime, we’re going to try to investigate it to the best of our ability.
RS: So can you give us an idea of how much time and resources goes into catching a bank robber?
SHELDON: It’s a lot. The most recent bank robber we had, (KeyBank hostage situation) I think initially everyone of my patrol officers, everybody in administration and everyone of my detectives was on that. And then not only do you have that, you have the Ontario Police Department, their full resources on it. You have BCI, you have the FBI on it. The initial response is huge and quite costly.
As things die down, or the next day, then it’s mainly the FBI and BCI and the detectives from the agencies are working on it. Typically, I would say most of these bank robberies that you see, they are resolved within the first week or two weeks. And it takes a lot of manpower hours to get these things. A lot of information you get might not have anything to do with the bank robbery. So you spend all this time with that new information to find out it’s nothing — you just wasted a lot of time. I think in police work, there’s a lot of loose ends and avenues that turn into nothing. But you have to check it all out.
RS: According to FBI numbers, in 2011, of the $38,331,491 that was stolen, only $8,070,886 was recovered, leaving $30,260,605 unrecovered. So if we divide that amount by 4,534, which is the number of 89 percent of robberies where money was stolen, it’s a paltry $6,674.15. Is it worth all the time and energy spent to find one of these bank robbers that maybe take $6,600?
SHELDON: Oh yeah, absolutely. Any crime that’s committed with a gun, needs to have full attention. Or any crime of violence, really needs a serious look at.
RS: And what if there’s no violence involved? Just a note?
SHELDON: It’s still a serious crime. I think there’s things that are just accepted in our culture: you just don’t rob banks. I don’t think it takes a brain surgeon to have that mindset of ‘Hey, I shouldn’t do this.’ But people are just … I don’t understand why they do what they do sometimes.
