CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a new website designed to help catch wanted bank robbers.
Last year, bank robbers walked away from federally insured banks, credit unions, savings and loan associates, and armored trucks with more than $38 million in cash, according to the last full year of FBI bank crimes statistics. The money was only recovered in one in five of those cases.
In the unsolved cases, surveillance images of suspects were often posted online, on FBI wanted posters, and elsewhere to enlist the public's help in catching the robbers. The FBI says the new website to further that effort.
The website features a gallery of unknown suspects and map function that plots robbery locations. Users can search by name, location, or other factors. You can also filter searches of serial and non-serial bank robbers.
Search results will deliver a Wanted by the FBI poster that contains more images, a suspect's full description, and a brief narrative of the crime.
The website, which can be found at bankrobbers.fbi.gov, will include the most pressing bank robberies from the FBI's 56 field offices.
In the coming weeks and months, a spokesperson for the FBI said, new features and more suspects will be added, creating a fuller picture of the nation's most-wanted bank robberies.
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