The media portrays bank robbers as good looking and justifiably rebellious: Brad Pitt as a Jesse James; Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, each driven by an inner wild-child.  Most recently, the media dubbed a serial bank robber “Grandpa Bandit.”  Bank robbery surveillance photos show the Grandpa Bandit is a bald, pale, heavy-set man in his 50s to 60 years old.  The robber, who has 21 bank robberies in 12 states, was calm, deliberate and low key.  Dressed in nondescript clothing, he “gently” robs the bank, typically with a demand note for a specific amount.  The American public was invited to imagine him as a kind, older gentlemen with grandchildren.  When trying to figure out what drove him, one reporter speculated aloud that the perhaps the Grandpa Bandit had a sick wife and was robbing banks to pay off medical bills. 

The truth about the Grandpa Bandit was something else.  Michael Francis Mara, 52, had a string of criminal convictions dating back to 1981.  He had only been released in 2004 after serving a sentence for breaking and entering.  He was hardly a warm Grandpa just trying to pay the medical bills of his wife of 50 years.  He was instead an experienced criminal.  Although much was reported about him before he was caught, the media gave far less attention to Mara’s personal reality.  It was not romantic or interesting. 

So goes the American fantasy about bank robbers.

Famous American bank robber John Dillinger and his murderous associates have been glamorized in at least eight movies.  Dillinger, depicted most recently by Hollywood heartthrob Jonny Depp, was portrayed as a rebellious, exciting man who enjoyed the challenge of robbing banks and evading boring law enforcement officials.  In reality, Dillinger was a violent man who spent his childhood bullying and terrorizing other children.  Dillinger’s father was allegedly physically and verbally abusive.  Dillinger was constantly in trouble as a juvenile.  Charming, but possessing not concern for others, Dillinger would con bank employees believing he was a bank alarm salesman or a movie scout, viewing locations for a film company.    Dillinger even convinced his own attorney to smuggle a wooden gun into jail, which he later used to escape.   Federal agents received a tip that Dillinger was at a Chicago movie Theatre.  As he exited the theatre Dillinger was killed by the agents, thereby ending his murderous spree.  Dillinger killed police officers, terrorized bank employees and manipulated and abused those who came in contact with him.   

Legendary bank robber Jesse James has also been depicted as a hero of the common man in films.  Recently actor Brad Pitt portrayed James.  Like Dillinger, James’ modern media image has been so completely re-worked that he is now remembered as almost charming.  In truth James was what we would now call a violent racist.  He was raised in a southern Missouri community where slaves made up twenty-five percent of the population.  In letters sent by James to local newspaper editors, he supported Missouri seceding from the Union so I could sustain its slave-holding philosophy.  In the 1860s, James joined a secessionist group that was later implicated in the massacre of union soldiers and their civilian sympathizers.  Around the same time, James started robbing banks that were owned by men who supported the abolition of slavery.  This targeted robbing of abolitionists raised James to the status of folk hero in the minds of those who supported the Confederacy.  In an early instance of media romanticizing, a secessionist newspaper editor in Kansas City portrayed Jesse and his gang members as action heroes, further glamorizing their violence and pro-slavery views.  When James expanded his criminal activity to train robberies, his fellow gang members began to get killed or captured.  Eventually James’ fellow gang member, who was secretly working for the Governor of Missouri, killed him.

In 2009, the FBI reported that the U.S. experiences about 6000 bank robberies a year.  The typical bank robber gets no more than $1500.  That will hardly get a villa in Tuscany or pay for the plane fare to Mexico.   In fact it’s a sum so small that it stands no bigger than a large sandwich.  For this meager haul, bank robbers are willing to expose themselves to Federal bank robbery charges that can be as high as a life sentence.

I investigated bank robberies for 20 years as an FBI special agent.  Most of the bank robbers I investigated had addiction problems, somewhat lower IQs, and mental health problems.  Most also got caught.  With the use of surveillance cameras, crime stopper rewards and television news exposure, bank robbers tended to leave clues that led to their capture, even when they took pains to disguise their faces.  What is more, criminal trials against them tended to result in guilty verdicts.  With those odds, it would be fair to say than bank robbers are not the smartest criminals.  America’s tendency to romanticize  bank robbers has no basis in reality. 

Resources:

http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/ric/ResourceDetail.aspx?RID=411

http://www.allbusiness.com/management/3593002-1.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/167934487_3.html

People who commit extreme workplace violence have some common personality traits.  Most obviously, they have an inability to resolve life’s frustrations short of violence.   Thornton stated in his 911 call that “This place is a racist place.  They treat me bad over here, and all the other black employees had over here too.”  Whether his racist claims are accurate have little to do with the inexcusable fashion in which he chose to address it which resulted in eight deaths.  Thornton never filed an Equal Employment Opportunity claim, nor sued his employer for discrimination.  If he was discriminated against, he seethed and did nothing – that is until he picked up a gun.   His firing appears to have been based on the grounds that he stole from his employer.  Thornton had apparently been confronted with surveillance tapes of him stealing beer.  Apparently he knew that he had been caught and was going to be fired.  On the day he met with his managers, he arrived carrying  concealed weapons.  He signed a one-line resignation letter, requested a drink of water, briefly exited the room and then casually retrieved his firearms to commence his killing spree.   Thornton had decided the only way to resolve his problem was to eliminate any of those he viewed as discriminating against him.   Instead of filing a complaint alleging discrimination – which would have helped build a case against his employer that would have helped the other African-American employees whom he claimed also suffered discrimination – Thornton chose to be judge, jury and executioner.   His actions reveal that he perceived he had no power to change his situation short of gunning down his managers.  He became the ultimate power broker, deciding who should live or die.  

Richard Ramirez, AKA “The Night Stalker”, once stated, “We’ve got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it.  The ones who aren’t afraid control life itself.”   Ramirez is serving life without parole in a California prison, his every move now controlled by others.  His logic was distorted but it is a logic shared by those who inflict workplace violence to settle scores.

We all know people who cannot be accountable for their actions and who lay blame at the feet of others.  Work place killers take this character flaw to a new level.  Work place killers are usually individuals who blame others for their failings.  They often express feelings of not being appreciated or accepted.  They tend to be loners, who are outwardly angry.  They tend not to have close relationships with co-workers, and often have a history of prior threats.  Not surprisingly, many have an obsession with weapons. 

Thornton had complained to his girlfriend about being discriminated against at work and that there was a stick figure drawn in the bathroom with a hangman’s noose.  Apparently Thornton concluded this stick figure was an overt reference to the lynching of blacks.  Apparently he never brought this to the attention of the company’s managers.  Thornton also referenced a gun shop where he had purchased his weapons, but it is not clear how this came up in conversation or whether it was a veiled threat.

The difficult issue is preventing these tragedies in the first place.  Most experts agree that prevention of workplace violence requires a combination of physical security, education about how to terminate high risk employees, and education to help employees to identify signs of potential violence so they can be addressed before they escalate.  Signs of future workplace violence could include an employee constantly complaining about an issue, blaming the company for his or her problems, making threats and becoming isolated from other employees. 

Fortunately work place mass killings are not common – less than 100 a year on average. Employers should take measures to Identify problem employees and work to diffuse these individuals will prevent future violence as well as improve work environments

Additional resources on this subject can be found at:

Hyperlinks here:

National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace Violence

http://www.workplaceviolence911.com/

United States Department of Labor

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/p4.asp

“So I took it into my own hands and handled the problem.  I wish I could’ve got more of the people.”  Those are the chilling words of Omar Thornton in a 911 call he made after he killed eight fellow employees at a Connecticut beer distributorship.  A short time later he took his own life.  Thornton told family members that he had been the victim of racism at his workplace, but he never filed any complaints.  In fact, the reason he was terminated appeared to have nothing to do with race – he was caught on camera stealing beer.

People who commit extreme workplace violence have some common personality traits.  Most obviously, they have an inability to resolve life’s frustrations short of violence.   Thornton stated in his 911 call that “This place is a racist place.  They treat me bad over here, and all the other black employees had over here too.”  Whether his racist claims are accurate have little to do with the inexcusable fashion in which he chose to address it which resulted in eight deaths.  Thornton never filed an Equal Employment Opportunity claim, nor sued his employer for discrimination.  If he was discriminated against, he seethed and did nothing – that is until he picked up a gun.   His firing appears to have been based on the grounds that he stole from his employer.  Thornton had apparently been confronted with surveillance tapes of him stealing beer.  Apparently he knew that he had been caught and was going to be fired.  On the day he met with his managers, he arrived carrying  concealed weapons.  He signed a one-line resignation letter, requested a drink of water, briefly exited the room and then casually retrieved his firearms to commence his killing spree.   Thornton had decided the only way to resolve his problem was to eliminate any of those he viewed as discriminating against him.   Instead of filing a complaint alleging discrimination – which would have helped build a case against his employer that would have helped the other African-American employees whom he claimed also suffered discrimination – Thornton chose to be judge, jury and executioner.   His actions reveal that he perceived he had no power to change his situation short of gunning down his managers.  He became the ultimate power broker, deciding who should live or die.  

Richard Ramirez, AKA “The Night Stalker”, once stated, “We’ve got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it.  The ones who aren’t afraid control life itself.”   Ramirez is serving life without parole in a California prison, his every move now controlled by others.  His logic was distorted but it is a logic shared by those who inflict workplace violence to settle scores.

We all know people who cannot be accountable for their actions and who lay blame at the feet of others.  Work place killers take this character flaw to a new level.  Work place killers are usually individuals who blame others for their failings.  They often express feelings of not being appreciated or accepted.  They tend to be loners, who are outwardly angry.  They tend not to have close relationships with co-workers, and often have a history of prior threats.  Not surprisingly, many have an obsession with weapons. 

Thornton had complained to his girlfriend about being discriminated against at work and that there was a stick figure drawn in the bathroom with a hangman’s noose.  Apparently Thornton concluded this stick figure was an overt reference to the lynching of blacks.  Apparently he never brought this to the attention of the company’s managers.  Thornton also referenced a gun shop where he had purchased his weapons, but it is not clear how this came up in conversation or whether it was a veiled threat.

The difficult issue is preventing these tragedies in the first place.  Most experts agree that prevention of workplace violence requires a combination of physical security, education about how to terminate high risk employees, and education to help employees to identify signs of potential violence so they can be addressed before they escalate.  Signs of future workplace violence could include an employee constantly complaining about an issue, blaming the company for his or her problems, making threats and becoming isolated from other employees. 

Fortunately work place mass killings are not common – less than 100 a year on average. Employers should take measures to Identify problem employees and work to diffuse these individuals will prevent future violence as well as improve work environments.

Additional resources on this subject can be found at:

Hyperlinks here:

National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace Violence

http://www.workplaceviolence911.com/

United States Department of Labor

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/p4.asp