Zakorsky : Why bandits are losing interest in robbing banks

Bank robbery is a high-profile crime that fascinates many people. Movies have been made about famous bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and Butch Cassidy. There is even a new movie that just came out about Gilbert Galvan, Canada’s most prolific bank robber who robbed 59 banks in five years. It might surprise you – as it did me – to learn that the number of bank robberies is the lowest it’s been in half a century. That’s what I discovered while researching a book about the shift to a cashless economy. With people using less cash, I had expected fewer bank robberies. But I was startled to see that the downward trend started well before the cashless economy started springing up in the 2000s.