The FBI announced that it has set up a Website dedicated to identifying and apprehending bank robbers throughout the seven counties covered by the agency's Los Angeles office.

The Website will post clear photographs to show robbers' identities. Tips can also be submitted confidentially, according to the announcement.

The Website -- Labankrobbers.org -- was created by FBI Special Agent Steve May, the office's bank robbery coordinator.

The coordinator reviews surveillance photographs and other evidence from every bank robbery in the counties under the office's jurisdiction.

Many serial bandits, who are given nicknames as the Napkin Bandit, the Landscape Bandit, the Goofy Hat Bandit, the Irreconcilable Differences Bandit and the Brunette Bandit, have been taken into custody recently, said the announcement.

There have been 203 robberies in the Los Angeles area this year, a decline from 250 at this point last year.

Bank robberies in Los Angeles have declined since their peak in the early 1990s when the region was known as the nation's bank robbery capital.

The FBI's Los Angeles Office covers Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Güncelleme Tarihi: 22 Temmuz 2007, 00:13