As if you needed another thing to worry about in the midst of the ongoing Biden crime crisis, the FBI is warning that a new trend has been developing among the criminal class. It's being called "jugging" and authorities warn that it is spreading rapidly, particularly in Baltimore and across the rest of Maryland. The practice involves aspiring thieves stationing themselves near ATMs or outside of banks and watching for people who may have made cash withdrawals to finish their business. Then they approach them, typically brandishing weapons, and rob them of the "jugs" of cash that were withdrawn. The Bureau reported more than twenty such incidents in Maryland in just the past week, so this type of robbery appears to be growing in popularity. (CBS News)

The FBI is warning bank customers across Maryland about a string of alarming, violent crimes.

Organized groups are targeting people after they leave ATMs or banks and robbing them at gunpoint.

It's called "jugging." The term comes from criminals targeting people with "jugs" or large amounts of cash after they leave ATMs.

The FBI told WJZ there were 21 incidents last week alone.

I can't imagine where these crooks came up with the term "jugs" to refer to cash withdrawals, but then I don't travel in those circles. It totally makes sense, unfortunately. The criminals may be the evil dregs of our society, but they're not entirely stupid. Few people make cash deposits at banks these days when the majority of workers have the option of having their pay electronically deposited by their employers. So the majority of people visiting an ATM are doing so for the purpose of withdrawing cash. That makes them tempting targets for thieves. 

One FBI Special Agent told reporters that these robberies take, on average, 15 to 30 seconds and then the thieves are gone. Nearly all of them were brandishing either guns or knives. That is typically far too quick for the police to be able to respond in the best of circumstances. There was one exception last week when the cops were nearby and wound up chasing the suspects who were driving a stolen BMW from Annapolis to Washington, D.C. The chase ended with the thieves crashing their vehicle into a tree, whereupon it caught fire, with both of the thieves dying in the ensuing blaze. 

This plague of "jugging" isn't limited to Maryland. A similar case was reported in Texas last week. Surveillance video caught a woman being followed from a bank to a gas station. Upon arriving, the thief ran up, smashed out her vehicle's window, stole her purse, and was gone within seconds. Almost all of these events begin in the vicinity of banks, credit unions, or ATMs.

So what can you do about it? Unfortunately, aside from being as situationally aware as possible, there aren't many options. Even holders of concealed carry permits are at a disadvantage because the thieve typically approach with their own weapons already drawn. While it pains me to suggest that people need to change their normal routines in the face of an escalating crime wave, you should probably avoid going to banks or ATMs as much as possible and conduct the majority of your transactions online. It's a sad state of affairs, but until more states back away from their policies of defunding or "reimagining" the police and decriminalizing many crimes, we're all going to have to make some adjustments.