Bank robberies on O'ahu so far this year have surpassed last year's total, and law enforcement officials say Hawai'i's illegal drug problem and copycat criminals have contributed to the spike.

They also stress that bank robberies are cyclical, and fluctuations in frequency are difficult to explain.

"It's an accumulation of factors," said Ed Kubo, U.S. attorney for the Islands. "The price (of narcotics) has been increasing and purity dropping, so those people abusing the drug need either more money or they need more drugs to get the same effect. Therefore, they become more desperate because they need more funds, and they may be turning to robbery as an easy method to get their drugs."

Sgt. Kim Capllonch, the Honolulu Police Department's CrimeStoppers coordinator, said, "It probably is a copycat crime. You see one person do it and not get caught. ... But they all get caught, eventually."

Some banks require customers to remove hats, sunglasses and other attire that disguise appearances while others do not, but inconsistent policies may also be a factor in the increase of bank robberies, officials said.

Despite the spike, local law enforcement officials and those in the banking industry say the numbers are still extremely low compared to Mainland jurisdictions.

Charles Goodwin, special agent in charge of the FBI's Ho-nolulu division, said during his final year in the FBI's Cincinnati office, agents there investigated 268 bank robberies. While the Cincinnati metropolitan area, at about 2 million people, is more than double Honolulu's population, it tallied as many as 14 times the number of bank robberies.

"We're pretty lucky in Hono-lulu in that we don't really have a bank robbery problem here. If there are four times as many this year as there were last year, percentage-wise it looks big, but it's not really that big. It's not a very lucrative crime. The average take is relatively low," Goodwin said yesterday.

"Because they are so cyclical in nature, you get perhaps one or two people responsible for three or four bank robberies before they get caught. I'd only be concerned if we saw a really sustained increase in the violence associated with them. We're on an island, and there isn't a lot of places to go, so not a lot of smart people rob banks."

Most bank robbers in Hawai'i make off with $500 to $1,000. First-time bank robbers face up to 18 months in federal prison if no weapon was used, and up to seven years if a gun is pulled.

Local banks are aware of the spike in robberies but are not alarmed.

"It is always a concern, but we're not going into a panic situation because of the number of bank robberies recently," said Rodney Shinkawa, executive director of the Hawai'i Bankers Association. "I think a number of bank robbers are serial bank robbers, and last year was a pretty low year in terms of bank robberies."

In general, Honolulu police say, more than 95 percent of all bank robberies on O'ahu are solved through CrimeStoppers tips. However, the number of arrests last year was not immediately available yesterday, police and the FBI said.

On Friday, police arrested Darryl Griffin, 23, after he allegedly robbed the Mililani branch of Hawaii USA Federal Credit Union on April 29. On Friday, Griffin was identified by a CrimeStoppers' tipster and arrested on a traffic warrant at 9 a.m. Police brought Griffin in on a traffic warrant and arrested him on suspicion of bank robbery after an investigation, Capllonch said.

On Wednesday, a 29-year-old Palolo man was charged with robbery after he allegedly stole a motorcycle before holding up a bank May 2.

Fong Lu, also known as Phong Le, was charged with firstdegree robbery before he was turned over to federal authorities for prosecution.

Kubo said anyone who robs a bank in Hawai'i will be prosecuted without exception.

"We'll prosecute all individuals who put the lives of others in jeopardy or steal money from any federally insured bank," he said. "The federal government will address the person's demons either with drug treatment, counseling, job education or training so that we take the additional steps to ensure that these people who come out have a fighting chance and are not placed back into the same environment and situation that caused the crime in the first place."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.