02/04/2002
I am the Security Manager and our branch office, located in a small rural town, has been robbed three times in the past nine months. In the first robbery, the robber wore a disguise and a gun was displayed. In the second robbery, no weapon was displayed AND the robber became nervous and just grabbed money from a customer and fled. In the third robbery, the robber wore a disguise, a knife was displayed and the robber went behind the teller line. There were at least a dozen customers in the branch at the time of the robbery. In all three robberies, the staff followed banking procedures, and there were no injuries.Senior management and branch personnel want to hire an unarmed security guard for 3 to 6 months. I expressed my concerns that a security guard may provide the staff with a false sense of security, escalate the situation toward more violence rather than controlling or deterring the situation, and present many liability issues.I have recommended the below listed action steps to deter a future robbery:<ol><li>Install additional cameras (2 exeterior and 1 at the rear entrance) and a monitor at the rear entrance. Approved by senior management.</li><li>Repair the locks on the doors leading behing the teller line. (The Branch never informed Maintenance the locks were broken.) Approved by senior management.</li><li>Consider renovating the interior of the branch to allow branch personnel to view customers entering via the rear entrance. (Currently, when indivdiuals enter the rear door, they must walk down a hallway before they can be seen by branch employees. All three robbers entered via the rear entrance.) Senior management is currently considering thsi request.</li><li>Install dye packs at the teller stations. (We currently have just a motion triggered vault pack.) - Approved by senior management.</li><li>Close the rear entrance to customers. Require customers to enter via the front door. - This recommendation was flatly refused by senior management.</li></ol>Note: We did meet with the local and state police to discuss possible action steps. Unfortunately, the police informed senior management they felt a security guard would act as a deterrent.I am having a difficult time convincing senior management not to hire a securty guard.Your thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.Also, if you have any articles or statitistics regarding the use of guards, I would appreciate receiving a copy.
12/03/2001
Do you think bait trap or push button alarms are needed at drive thru teller stations or would it be overkill? Are there any statistics on drive thru robberies?
12/03/2001
What do you suggest for annual security training for back office (mostly non-customer contact) employees? We have completed the retail (front-line) training and robbery is not likely to effect the back office staff. Are we required to train the back office staff on robbery each year?
11/05/2001
My bank's corporate office and branch are combined in one office building. The majority of upper management is located on the second floor of the building. The first floor consist of branch personal, loan processing and the collection department. Currently there is one alarm on the first floor, that is used for the entire building. My delima is that upper management would like to have an additional alarm on the second floor and be able to enter the second floor through a back door on the fire escape. I see this as a good way for a morning glory robbery to take place. Not to mention the safety concerns of the fire escape. The first and second floor are connected by an elevator. This would allow a would be robber to accoust someone entering the building on the second floor and gain entry to the first floor via the elevator. Personnel on the first floor would enter the building without knowing a robber was inside. I would appreciate any additional points or statistics you could provide.