I suppose that I knew that people still robbed banks, but have you been in one lately? They’re all clear panes of unbreakable stuff and specially hinged doors now. Evidently, that’s not enough to foil a determined bank robber, as Washington State still ranks at number nine for bank-based heists [Times].

King County, somewhat unsurprisingly, leads the state with 100 bank jobs in 2005, as apposed to the 35 in Snohomish County. (I wonder what the difference is between the number of banks in the two counties, and their relative wealth. Anyone?)

If you want to either find or avoid being a witness to said crimes, you should know that, “In Washington, banks are robbed more frequently on Thursdays between 3 and 6 p.m. by white men wearing hats.” If you’d like to perpetrate one, the current fashion is to, “…pass a teller a demand note and frequently indicate [you] have a weapon but rarely show one.” Bank robberies, just to warn you, are considered violent crimes [FBI].

Actually, what surprises me most about the figures isn’t that we’re so popular with bank robbers, but that Washington trails behind Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona for them.

Related posts:

1. Banner year for bank robbers
2. Bank robbery second in one week
3. Washington: the frog & onion state
4. Know your state symbols: The Lady Washington
5. Looking at the World from Washington State