Colorado has the highest rate of bank robberies in the country
The latest statistics from the FBI show Colorado has a rate of bank robberies well above other states on a per capita basis for the second year in a row.
Of 1,612 known robberies across the country in 2022 -- the latest year available in statistics recently released -- 155 were in Colorado, close to 10% of the nation's bank robberies. There were also 13 bank burglaries here among the nation's 124.
"It's a real expense yeah. It is. It's an obligation of protecting our customers, protecting our employees," said Jenifer Waller, president of the Colorado Bankers Association.
Banks have made security improvements over the years to prevent robberies.
"As robbers have progressed in their methods that they use to commit robberies, banks have also progressed on what they do; to prevent a robbery and also to find a perpetrator after the fact," said Waller.
Some preventative methods, like locked doors requiring a request for entry, took hold during the pandemic and have stayed in place.
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Bank robbery typically carries a higher arrest rate than most other crimes.
"You're on camera the whole time you're in a bank's parking lot and the bank lobby," said Waller. "Also the penalty is a federal crime for robbing a bank."
The FBI did not answer questions about why Colorado's share of bank robberies is so high. Only California had more in 2022 with 172. But California has nearly seven times Colorado's population. Illinois was the only other state with more than 100 at 103, and it has more than twice Colorado's population.
Steven Erichsen did more than 10 years in prison in Colorado for the robbery of a bank in Grand Junction in 2009. He met and spoke with a lot of other bank robbers while behind bars.
"Substance use," said Erichsen. "I don't think I met one that wasn't using drugs at the time."
Erichsen says he was high on methamphetamine at the time of the robbery and had not slept for days. But he recalls every moment.
"It's something that replays in my brain quite frequently," he said. "I remember the look on the bank teller's face."
Erichsen now works for a commercial mechanical company as an office manager as well as in placing sober living clients into housing. He shares a message for anyone thinking about committing a bank robbery.
"You think your life is bad right now, just wait. Wait until you have no power or control over your daily life, locked in a 14' by 8' bathroom," Erichsen said.
Before the 2009 crime, he had become controlled by addiction and worried about money to support his girlfriend and young child: "I felt like I didn't have any option and it seemed like the best option at the time."
Statistics have shown that 75% of bank robberies net less than $10,000. Erichsen was suicidal at the time and wanted to leave them money. He did not believe he would be caught.
What bothers him most is the memory of the teller and what he did with the note and the gun he brought while threatening to shoot her: "I don't want to put anybody through that again."
After the crime he ran, changed clothes at a construction site then walked up a street. But a police officer saw him and was suspicious. Fortunately, Erichsen shed his gun. He's still not sure why.
"I jumped a fence and that's where the cop caught up to me," Erichsen. "I thank God every day that I threw my gun. Because I would have died, or that cop would have died."
He said he tried to fake reaching for a weapon in his waist, hoping to be shot: "He didn't shoot me. I tried to get him to shoot me, but he wouldn't."
The officer did arrest him, though.
"I could have killed somebody," admits Erichsen. In prison, times were tough until he got a note from his child. Then he changed.
"That's time I can never get back," he said. That's time away from my family, time out of my kid's life. Time I wasted."
The robbery in a haze of meth, thinking it was Erichsen's only answer is far in the past. Getting housing and employed has been a challenge, but for him, there's a lot of good ahead.
"I can't change it, but I can change what I do today," he said. "You know, I'm a father, I'm a member of this community and that's what I try and strive for."
