More Bank Robberies, Potentially More Dangerous Too

CHICAGO (WBBM) - The FBI reports a sharp rise in bank robberies in the Chicago area over the past 2 to 3 weeks. 

Police also are concerned that the hold-ups are becoming increasingly dangerous.

The record for the number of Chicago-area bank robberies in a single year was set in 2006 when the FBI logged 284.  So far this year, the FBI's Ross Rice, says  there have been around 220, with 30 or so in just the last few weeks.

And he says the robberies increasingly have a greater potential for violence, what the FBI calls "armed takeover robberies."

Rice says the FBI this year arrested several prolific high-profile serial bank robbers but, others remain at large including the so-called Wheaton Bandit suspected of some 15 robberies in the western suburbs.