Armed vs. Unarmed Guards -- The Debate Goes On
An incident this week involving an attempted robbery of the Credit Union Service Center in Midwest City, Oklahoma, adds fuel to the debate over whether armed security guards in financial institutions are more likely to curtail violence, or provoke it.

This particular facility had been robbed twice in recent months. As a result, the institution had hired an off-duty police officer to provide security. When a 27-year old man walked in with a mask and a gun, the alert officer immediately approached him. The result was a gun battle. The thief, who had been released from federal prison about seven months ago after serving time for two bank robberies, was wounded and remains in critical condition. It's doubtful anyone (other than the guy's family) will be shedding too many tears over that. However, a customer was also wounded in the process, and that's precisely the kind of problem opponents of armed security guards point to when defending their view.

It is believed the 71-year-old female customer sustained a gunshot wound to the knee via one of the bullets that hit the would-be robber first.

One has to wonder what might have been different if the CUSC had had an unarmed guard, or no guard. The fact is, one gun that would have still been present was the one in the hands of the bad guy. Perhaps it would have been a quick in-and-out, no one hurt, and Aaron Kennedy would have continued his serial bank robberies. In the land of the Make My Day law, however, a customer could have pulled a concealed weapon and sparked a bullet battle that ended in a much worse tragedy.

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Whether you call it disaster management or business continuity, it is still all about the safety of your customers and staff, and then the business of banking. Sometimes to get this done, people need to be empowered and to know what should be done, and when.

Cledith Clemons is a customer at the Wachovia Bank in Edgewater FL. He found a suspicious looking item on the ground. It was a copper tube capped at both ends, 5 inches long and 3/4 diameter. So he brought it inside the bank! This could have been a pipe bomb. The bank was evacuated and the police were called. The Volusia County Bomb Squad blew it up and it has been sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing.

We often think of disruptions to business in major issues such as hurricanes, or minor issues such as a temporary power failure. But when was the last time you discussed a scenario like this with the branch staff, and how would your employees react? Does your manager, and those under that person, know what the priorities are or would their first thought be to call someone for advice?

Wilmington Trust customers in Delaware have had a lesson in Reg. E recently. Someone placed a card skimmer on a machine and stole $80,000 from 140 customers. The bank has reimbursed them all, so it was the bank who really lost. And it seems these crooks skim and go. NBC-10 has the video story online. Swiped information was used almost immediately as far as Wisconsin and Bulgaria. The police are looking for them.

So what if this were your bank?
- Would you have a press release drafted in advance that is fine-tuned to the situation?
- Do you have a designated media point of contact?
- How will you inform customers to watch their accounts/statements?
- Do you check the front of every machine every time it is serviced, looking for skimmers, cameras, or the remnants of one?
- Do you have a process to review activity logs from a skimmed machine and seek out victims, before they know they're victims?
- Do you have a system to cooperate with other banks in your area who may also have customers who were victimized?