Fairfax County saw more than double the number of bank robberies this year compared to 2005 and the highest count in nine years — a phenomenon that remains unexplained.
As of Tuesday, 43 banks had been robbed in the county in 2006, 32 of which police have closed with arrests, according to information provided by the Fairfax County Police Department. Last year, there were 19 bank robberies, and 18 the year before that.
By comparison, Montgomery County, the D.C. suburb most comparable in population with Fairfax, has dealt with 37 bank robberies so far this year and closed 20 of them. In Montgomery, that figure represents only a small jump, however; there were 34 bank heists there last year.
It’s unclear why the crimes spiked so sharply in Fairfax in 2006. Over the past decade, the number has generally been close to 20 each year, with the notable exception of 1997. That year, Fairfax County saw 45 bank robberies.
Public information officers with the department have been repeatedly unable to say how many robberies there were in 2000.
Police say only a small number of people are responsible for the crimes. Earlier this month, an officer shot and killed a 39-year-old man who had just held up a Wachovia Bank on Richmond Highway. Authorities said Edward Agurs refused to surrender and reached into a bag containing box cutters. Augers was a suspected in two other December bank robberies.
Most of the incidents this year, however, did not result in violence. In many cases, including Agurs’, the suspect passed the teller a note announcing the robbery without drawing a weapon.
Despite the unusual spike in robberies, police tout successes in arresting suspects.
“If you look at our closure rate, we’re doing pretty good,” said Officer Camille Neville, a police department spokeswoman. “We’re not always going to be able to close them all right away, but little by little, we’re making a dent in it.”
