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Why bank robbers prefer Fridays, and why you should bank early Monday

Payday Friday - it's not just for people who make their money the old-fashioned way.

According to new figures released by the FBI in Chicago, Friday is the most popular day of the week for bank robbers in the Chicago area and northern Illinois.

Of the 193 bank robberies the Chicago bureau tracked in 2016, 39 of them occurred on Friday.

Why? The FBI believes it's because robbers want cash for the weekend, often to buy drugs or alcohol, or to gamble.

"Bank robbers know not a lot of banks are open on Saturdays and Sundays, so they do the robbery on Friday to fuel their addictions over the weekend," Special Agent Garrett H. Croon told us this week.

The 193 robberies last year were a third more than the 144 reported in 2015, but in line with the 192 in 2014. The FBI said there's no clear reason for the increase.

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Friday is the most common day of the week for a bank heist, according to the FBI. That was the case with this bandit, who held up a TCF Bank in Glendale Heights on July 29. Courtesy of the FBI

More from FBI report

• Chicago, along with neighboring Berwyn and Cicero, were bank robbers' favorite spots, with 84 of the 193 holdups taking place in one of those cities. Another 37 took place in the Western suburbs, with 32 reported in the South suburbs, 23 in the North suburbs and 17 in the Rockford area.

• After Fridays, the most popular days of the week for a bank heists are, in order, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday and Monday (tie), and Saturday.

• Robbers' favorite time for a stickup was between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., followed by 9 to 11 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 3 to 6 p.m. Only eight holdups occurred between 6 and 9 a.m.

• Fewer than 7 percent of stickups were "takeover" robberies, in which the bandit publicly announces the holdup. Most involved a quiet demand or note to a single teller.

<h3 class="leadin">Not a victimless crime

While the banks and their federal insurer lose money when robbed, they're not the only victims, Croon notes. Tellers and customers can suffer trauma from a bank holdup, even if physically unharmed.

"It's the 18-year-old who goes to work to help pay her way through college and then gets a gun stuck in her face," Croon said. "That's terrifying."

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These are some of the weapons disguised as something else that were seized from carry-on luggage by TSA agents in 2016. Courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration

No-fly list

Everyone knows by now that taking a loaded gun aboard an airplane is a bad idea, right?

Apparently not.

The Transportation Security Administration said this week that its agents confiscated 3,391 firearms from carry-on bags in 2016. That's an all-time high, and nearly 28 percent more than in 2015 (and three times as many as in 2010). Of the guns confiscated, 83 percent were loaded.

The good news for local travelers: Neither O'Hare nor Midway ranked in the top 10 airports for confiscations. Topping that list were Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with 198, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth International, with 192, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport-Houston, with 128.

We're not sure why anyone would want to take a hand grenade - even an inert one - aboard an airplane, but TSA agents seized dozens of them from carry-on luggage in 2016. Courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration

Firearms weren't always the weapon of choice for passengers trying to arm themselves aboard an airplane last year. TSA agents also scooped up hunting knives, inert grenades, throwing stars, gun powder and numerous weapons designed to look like something else - sword canes, credit card knives, belt buckle knives, knives hidden in shoes and thermoses, and even knives disguised as lipstick tubes.

The oddest contraband of 2016 included a grenade-shaped trailer hitch, a replica exploding vest, a bottle containing dead sea horses, and a pink "Hello Kitty" pistol. For the top 10 unusual finds, watch this video.

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Prospect Heights Police Chief Al Steffen, left, Mayor Nick Helmer, and City Clerk Wendy Morgan-Adams with an American flag that flew over the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial on last month's 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Courtesy of the City of Prospect Heights

Piece of Pearl Harbor history

There's a historic new addition to the Prospect Heights Police Department.

Earlier this month, City Clerk Wendy Morgan-Adams presented Police Chief Al Steffens with an American flag that flew over the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Morgan-Adams was able to make it happen through her membership in the National Park Foundation.

"(The police department) has done a great job serving the many members of our community who are World War II veterans," she said.

Steffen plans to put the flag on public display in the police department's foyer, she said.

Cleaning house

"I think we should have a garage sale," Geneva Alderman Dean Kilburg said after seeing a more than 60-item list of stuff the Geneva Police Department no longer wants and is trying to get rid of, by sale or by garbage can. Among the items: videotapes of training sessions, a 36-inch Christmas wreath, a fingerprint kit, radio chargers, a bullhorn, a dog cage, 33 15-by-8-inch gray bricks, and even the back prisoner seat of a squad car.

Those that have any value will be sold on the ibid.illinois.gov or eBay auction sites.

What prompted the cleanup? Last year's change in leadership, with a new police chief.

"Some things haven't been used in years," said Sgt. Eli Rivera, who was among those tasked with leading the cleanup effort.

• Got a tip? Have a question? Please email Charles Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas at copsandcrime@dailyherald.com, or call our tip line at (847) 427-4483.

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