A University of Canterbury criminologist says the robber who police believe has struck eight banks in five months in the Dunedin area is beginning to push his luck and would be wise to leave town.
Without being given any details of the bank robberies, sociology Associate Prof Greg Newbold used his psychological profiling skills to determine the bank robber was a ‘‘professional, intelligent, mature adult with a criminal record''.
‘‘He may not have done robberies before, but he's a practised criminal who may have seen an opportunity in Dunedin with their lesser security.''
Prof Newbold said bank robberies were popular with criminals in the 1980s - particularly in Auckland - but they had fallen ‘‘out of favour'' with criminals for two reasons.
Banks began limiting the amount of cash they kept on site and, in the minds of many criminals, robbing banks was not worth the risk, he said.
‘‘The second reason is, a lot more people were getting caught because of security.
‘‘Most banks have security guards outside now - it's the greatest deterrent for a bank robber. No bank robber wants to have to shoot anyone,'' he said.
‘‘Having a live person [a security guard] outside who's going to raise the alarm is the greatest deterrent.''
Prof Newbold said the difficulty Dunedin police were having tracking down the robber suggested he could be from out of town.
When given a description of the man, Prof Newbold said the fact he was not masked during the robberies confirmed he was from out of town.
‘‘He's not well known to people in Dunedin - he doesn't have family there.''
Prof Newbold said the robberies were well planned and the culprit was not planning on getting caught.
‘‘But he is taking some risks.
‘‘If he was smart, he would be cutting loose and getting out of town now with the money.''
