NYPD Commissioner Kelly urges banks to ramp up security against 'Holiday Bandit' Marat Mikhaylich

NYPD Commissioner Kelly urges banks to ramp up security against 'Holiday Bandit' Marat Mikhaylich: "Marat Mikhaylich has pulled seven stickups since early December - including two heists this week alone, officials say.

He has been hitting branches in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island where the barriers around tellers are barely chest-level for a perp the size of Big Bird.

'Some of them have bandit barriers but they are not fully extended to the ceiling and he is tall...and he can sort of tower over it,' Kelly said.

The partitions can be a deterrent if they're extended much higher, the commissioner added. Two years ago he pushed for a bill to mandate better bank partitions in every bank branch in the city, but City Council lawmakers - worried the barriers would scare off customers - nixed the plan."