In 2002, there were 34 bank robberies in the Czech Republic, according to the Police Presidium. This year has seen close to 70 so far, and last year there were 201.

In Prague, police are investigating 16 robberies, down from 25 this time last year.

"The bank robbery situation in Prague is under control this year," says Bohumil Kocourek, head of the violent crime division of the Prague Police. Police and banks are working more closely than ever before, he adds, and banks' willingness to put more money into security is having a positive impact, at least in Prague.

Another factor could be that in 2004, bank robberies became a major point of focus for the violent crime division, and several officers were dedicated to solving them full time.

According to presidium statistics, 99 percent of bank robbery investigations in Prague lead to an arrest.

"Today, banks use much better monitoring camera systems, as well as security," Kocourek says. "Several years ago, the situation was not as good."

Officials say the majority of bank robbers are amateurs who lack a master plan rather than an urgent need for cash, and that robberies occur more often outside Prague in areas hit harder by unemployment and inflation.

"Some people rob because they have debts," Kocourek says.

Bankers say the key is for police and institutions to stay ahead of criminals, a diligence still lacking in some smaller cities.

"Security experts only start thinking about improving security devices once someone breaks in," says Helena Brychová of the Czech Banking Association's Commission for Banking and Financial Security (KBFB).

Taking measures

Banks invest hundreds of millions crowns annually into security, according to Petr Barák, KBFB chairman. But most are loath to talk about specific measures they have taken in recent years to ward off thieves.

Klára Gajdušková, a spokeswoman for Česká spořitelna, says each year the bank earmarks more money solely for security, though she refused to disclose how much.

Kocourek's department holds meetings twice a year with the bank association and passes on her bank's recommendations of how to make banks safer.

The measures include training bank employees on how to behave during a heist and urging the use of high-tech camera systems to monitor as many people's movements as possible throughout a building.

Kocourek says capturing what is going on during a robbery is essential for preventing future attacks.

Inside the presidium's violent crime division, robbery details are fed into special databases, where they are matched against other crimes and checked for patterns.

"It is easier for us to solve a case if we document their activity," Kocourek says. "Robbers are inventive. They get to know the police's techniques."

They may be inventive, but they are not always professional, authorities say.

Increasingly, the holdup weapon of choice among most Czech robbers is a piece of paper that lists their demands.

These so-called quiet robberies are more common these days than Hollywood-like heists, police say, speculating that thieves, aware of increased surveillance, prefer to hide their voices.

The first bank robbery in Prague this year was committed by a woman who tried, unsuccessfully, to rob a Živnostenská banka branch on Jugoslávská street in January. She was arrested and is in jail, but police would not say whether she awaits trial or has been sentenced.

Kocourek calls that case "a rarity." Most bank robbers in this country are male and 73 percent work alone.

Some 26 percent of holdups are committed by two robbers and only 1 percent are carried out by professional teams, KBFB statistics show.

"In the Czech Republic, the majority of robbers are amateurs who decide to rob a bank for personal reasons," Barák says.

He added that the majority of robberies happen during working hours and about 70 percent last just two minutes.

In most cases, robbers steal between 200,000 Kč ($8,870) and 500,000 Kč, according to the KBFB.