Wichita ? While it’s not quite like the days of Bonnie and Clyde, authorities say they’re seeing a growing trend of robbers targeting small-town banks in Kansas.

In a little more than a year there have been at least seven bank robberies in towns of less than 1,400, said Bill Seck, who heads Wichita’s FBI office. Six of the robberies occurred in towns of less than 800.

Targets are banks that often lack security and proximity to law enforcement. Past numbers weren’t available, but Seck said numbers have increased.

While rural bank robberies were rampant in the 1930s, historians say the trend eventually faded as cities got bigger and banks branched out.

The most common bank robbery today happens in suburban strip malls and grocery stores, authorities say.

However, robbers are probably rediscovering the small farmer’s bank as an easy mark, said L.R. Kirchner, author of “Robbing Banks: An American History.”

Outdated or nonexistent security, easy access to county roads and long distances from law enforcement make them attractive targets, he said.

“It’s been on the upswing for several years,” Kirchner said. “It’s simple math: Your chances of getting away with it increase the further you get from a city.”

But small towns have an advantage over big cities in that suspicious people are harder to miss, said Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson.

“We need them not to hesitate to call us if they see something that doesn’t belong,” Henderson said. “And in small towns, people notice those things.”

Some banks need to update their security, Seck said, and some have made changes.

Surveillance cameras, dye packs that explode and stain bills with ink and easy-to-activate silent alarms are tools all banks should use, he said.

Security at The Mid-Kansas Credit Union in Buhler  robbed March 28 of last year  is significantly better, Manager Rick Krehbiel said.

The problem is that some small-town banks, like the Plevna bank, which was robbed twice recently, can’t afford to pay for security, Kirchner said.

With limited budgets, they don’t think paying for better security is a sound investment.

“They don’t think anyone will try to rob their little bank,” he said. “But every bank will eventually be robbed. It might be years away, but someone will try to take it down.”