Thursday, January 22, 2004
This is a robe-ry, hand over cash fast no one get hurt.
That was the way a bank robber's note read recently. The guy authorities are calling the Spelling Bee Dropout Bandit has pulled off a string of eight bank robberies in the Long Island, NY area. With a $25,000 reward now on his head, we suspect the 30-something year old robber will soon be ratted out by family or friends.
On Friday, January 16, a bank robber in Norfolk, Virginia killed a 61-year old bank security guard after a fight. The robber is described as a black male, 5'10", wearing a black hooded sweatshirt or jacket, a gray skull cap, a white bandana over his face and sunglasses. Our thoughts are with the family of the slain guard and the employees of the BB&T branch.
2004 is NOT off to a good start, in terms of bank robberies. Both the number of heists thus far and this tragic death are indications that the desperate people continue to do desperate things.
That was the way a bank robber's note read recently. The guy authorities are calling the Spelling Bee Dropout Bandit has pulled off a string of eight bank robberies in the Long Island, NY area. With a $25,000 reward now on his head, we suspect the 30-something year old robber will soon be ratted out by family or friends.
On Friday, January 16, a bank robber in Norfolk, Virginia killed a 61-year old bank security guard after a fight. The robber is described as a black male, 5'10", wearing a black hooded sweatshirt or jacket, a gray skull cap, a white bandana over his face and sunglasses. Our thoughts are with the family of the slain guard and the employees of the BB&T branch.
2004 is NOT off to a good start, in terms of bank robberies. Both the number of heists thus far and this tragic death are indications that the desperate people continue to do desperate things.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
One of the most prolific bank robbers in history (50+ robberies over a 29-year period) was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in jail in Pennsylvania recently. Dubbed the "Friday Night Bandit", he wore masks ranging from Freddy Krueger to Richard Nixon and had a "signature move" of leaping over the teller counter. He terrorized countless bankers over his career, while pursuing higher education degrees during his free time. At his sentencing, three of the bankers he had terrorized testified they still have nightmares. I hope he has nightmares of his own in prison -- and that Pennsylvania has a law that prohibits him from writing a book or otherwise profiting from his crimes.
One bank robber learned that it's best to choose fair weather. Police in Wilkes-Barre, PA say that footprints in the snow and an alert citizen led them directly to the front door of suspect Craig Paternoster. Love it!
Does this sound familiar? "The robber is described as a 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall with a medium build and moustache. He was wearing a black or navy blue hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, dark gloves and light colored pants." In nearly every news account we read about bank robbers, the story is the same: the robber was wearing a hat, a hood, and/or sunglasses.
In light of how effective the "No hats, no sunglasses" signs are in deterring robbers, has your institution jumped on board? If not, why not? Are you like the banker I spoke to recently who said, "Mary Beth, you have to understand. Probably 90% of our customers are blue collar workers. Most days they are wearing either a ball cap or a cowboy hat. If we made them remove them, they would be offended and would probably decide to bank elsewhere." Aha! I get it. But there's another side to this.
Keep in mind:
1. This is voluntary. You are not REQUIRING customers to remove hats, hoods and sunglasses. You're ASKING them to do so. If they don't, they don't. But they will be subjected to greater scrutiny by employees, and perhaps even other customers and, in the event they're a robber, the police are likely to get a much clearer description that will aid in identification and apprehension.
2. We've talked to many, many institutions using these signs and not one has reported any negative customer reaction. Not one. Why do you think your customers would be any different? Don't they want to be safe, too?
3. You're just anticipating what customer reaction will be. Why don't you test it instead? This isn't an all or nothing, do it now and you have to do it forever type of thing. Get the signs. Choose a day when you're going to have decent lobby traffic, but perhaps not one of the busiest of the week. Get all your employees up to speed on the "experiment". Help them understand that this is for their safety and the safety of customers and other institutions have experienced dramatic results from using similar signs. Make sure they all view this as a positive. Then, post the sign for one day. At the end of the day, have an employee meeting and find out what the reaction was. Did they get comments? What were the comments like? Any complaints? Then make a decision about whether you will choose to keep employing one of the most cost-effective robbery detterents ever dreamed up.
What do you have to lose? The next time some ball cap-wearing, sunglass-covered robber targets your institution, aren't your employees going to be wondering why the bank down the street has these signs and yours doesn't?
One bank robber learned that it's best to choose fair weather. Police in Wilkes-Barre, PA say that footprints in the snow and an alert citizen led them directly to the front door of suspect Craig Paternoster. Love it!
Does this sound familiar? "The robber is described as a 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall with a medium build and moustache. He was wearing a black or navy blue hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, dark gloves and light colored pants." In nearly every news account we read about bank robbers, the story is the same: the robber was wearing a hat, a hood, and/or sunglasses.
In light of how effective the "No hats, no sunglasses" signs are in deterring robbers, has your institution jumped on board? If not, why not? Are you like the banker I spoke to recently who said, "Mary Beth, you have to understand. Probably 90% of our customers are blue collar workers. Most days they are wearing either a ball cap or a cowboy hat. If we made them remove them, they would be offended and would probably decide to bank elsewhere." Aha! I get it. But there's another side to this.
Keep in mind:
1. This is voluntary. You are not REQUIRING customers to remove hats, hoods and sunglasses. You're ASKING them to do so. If they don't, they don't. But they will be subjected to greater scrutiny by employees, and perhaps even other customers and, in the event they're a robber, the police are likely to get a much clearer description that will aid in identification and apprehension.
2. We've talked to many, many institutions using these signs and not one has reported any negative customer reaction. Not one. Why do you think your customers would be any different? Don't they want to be safe, too?
3. You're just anticipating what customer reaction will be. Why don't you test it instead? This isn't an all or nothing, do it now and you have to do it forever type of thing. Get the signs. Choose a day when you're going to have decent lobby traffic, but perhaps not one of the busiest of the week. Get all your employees up to speed on the "experiment". Help them understand that this is for their safety and the safety of customers and other institutions have experienced dramatic results from using similar signs. Make sure they all view this as a positive. Then, post the sign for one day. At the end of the day, have an employee meeting and find out what the reaction was. Did they get comments? What were the comments like? Any complaints? Then make a decision about whether you will choose to keep employing one of the most cost-effective robbery detterents ever dreamed up.
What do you have to lose? The next time some ball cap-wearing, sunglass-covered robber targets your institution, aren't your employees going to be wondering why the bank down the street has these signs and yours doesn't?
