Western Suburbs Had Second-Highest Rate of Bank Robberies in 2016: Chicago FBI

There were 193 recorded bank robberies in the Northern District of Illinois last year, the Chicago FBI reported Tuesday, and 37 of those were in Chicago’s western suburbs.

While an overwhelming majority of robberies — 84 — were reported in the area of Chicago, Berwyn and Cicero, the second-highest number was in the western suburbs.

Other areas’ stats were as follows:

• There were 32 bank robberies in Chicago’s southern suburbs last year
• There were 23 bank robberies in the northern suburbs
• There were 17 bank robberies in the Rockford area

There were about 50 more bank robberies in 2016 than in 2015, Garrett Croon, Chicago FBI’s media coordinator, said, for "no definitive reason." This year’s numbers are closer to 2014, when 192 bank robberies were reported to police.

“An explanation for this increase could be defined further in the future as bank robbers are arrested and interviewed,” Croon said in an email.

Just 13 of Northern Illinois’ bank robberies were takeover situations, according to FBI data. Most of them — 180 — were non-takeovers. Most also occurred overnight between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., though the time frame of 9 a.m. through 11 a.m. was also a popular one. Fifty-six bank robberies took place during the first time slot, and 43 occurred during the second most common range.

Tuesdays and Fridays tied for the most popular day of the week for bank robberies, with 39 incidents each. Sundays were favored the least, with just 3 robberies reported throughout the whole year.

"Bank robberies occur mostly on Fridays, and this is historically true,” Croon said. “It is FBI Chicago’s opinion that bank robberies occur mostly on Friday so that bank robbers can have cash before the weekend to fuel their addictions to drugs, alcohol or gambling.”

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