Topics at On Deadline are wide-ranging and up to the minute. Join the conversation on the day's most interesting news. SYMMES TOWNSHIP, Ohio  Police here are searching for two suspects who don't fit the typical criminal profile of bank robbers. They're teenage girls. The suspects, one believed to be 14 to 16 years old, the other 12 to 14, are accused of walking into 1st National Bank in this Cincinnati suburb Tuesday afternoon, giving the teller a note demanding money and leaving with a bag of cash, said Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Barnett. The girls didn't brandish weapons or make threats, and no one was injured, Barnett said. Michael Brooks, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's regional office, said he doesn't recall a bank robbery that involved a minor, let alone two girls, during his more than five years at that office. "It's very surprising," said Margaret Zahn, former lead investigator of the Girls Study Group, a Justice Department-funded project to study delinquency among girls. ON DEADLINE: Girls elude police Even though arrests of girls are up, she said, "they're more likely to be arrested for shoplifting. ... Walking into a bank and demanding money is quite unusual." In 2008, nearly 18,000 males younger than 18 were arrested for all types of robbery nationally, FBI crime statistics show. About 1,900 females younger than 18 were arrested, a 38% increase from 1999. Although robbery by females is not as common as robbery by males, the gender gap is narrowing, said James Garbarino, professor of child psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and author of See Jane Hit: Why Girls are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It. "Parents are telling their girls, 'You can do anything a boy can.' That makes them now vulnerable" to television violence and other social influences, Garbarino said. The Ohio girls left the bank on foot and managed to elude a police dog and helicopter. Barnett would not say how much money they got away with. Mixed in the cash was "bait money" used to track robbery suspects, he said without elaborating. Kelley reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Bazar reported from McLean, Va. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more