ANCHORAGE - A man who authorities say robbed two Anchorage banks in one week offered police one of the biggest clues yet — a clear picture of his face.
It was captured at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union branch at 125 W. Dimond Blvd. around 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. Police say the man pictured got away with $2,078 in stolen loot.
Authorities also say the same man robbed the Credit Union 1 at 1941 Abbott Rd. on Feb. 25.
“In terms of the investigation, the images we got from Saturday’s robbery were very good,” said FBI Assistant Special Agent in charge Kevin Donovan. “They depict the subject’s face quite well and we’re hoping we get tips from the public to identify him.”
The images were clear. Wayne Bell, security expert and vice president of alarm operations at Guardian Security Systems, Inc., says the images captured by the bank were much clearer than a high-priced security camera from a decade ago may have captured.
Bell says because of the increasing quality and falling price of surveillance systems, there are fewer private places out in public than ever before.
“Now, there’s cameras everywhere,” Bell said. There really are.”
Bell says traffic cameras, business cameras, home security systems and personal cellphone cameras leave people with few places they aren’t actually being filmed. But he says that should not be cause for alarm.
“There’s one thing to say, ‘You’ve got a camera on you.’ There’s another to say, ‘Can they identify you?’ Technology isn’t doing that,” Bell said. “You don’t have to worry about being tracked.”
Unless, of course, you’re planning on robbing a bank.
“If somebody robs a bank, the FBI will investigate,” Donovan said. “We’ll work with our local partners, like in this case, we’re working with Anchorage police to identify and apprehend the people responsible.”
Donovan says because credit unions are backed by the federal government, anytime one is robbed, prison time is all but guaranteed. The person responsible for the two recent robberies in Anchorage can expect a sentence of anywhere from a few years to a few decades in federal prison, he says.