Robbery Procedures: Management Personnel
by Dana Turner, BOL Guru
- PURPOSE: The purpose of this section is to define and describe acceptable supervisor and management procedures for preventing or responding to a robbery, to avoid confusion and to monitor the performance of necessary tasks assigned to staff personnel.
- POLICY: It is the institution's policy that supervisors will support and encourage their employees to take extraordinary measures to ensure their own safety and the safety of other persons who may become involved in a robbery event, including:
- Monitoring the employees' work practices by personal observation and through periodic interviews;
- Conducting frequent robbery training during staff briefings and other occasions as it's appropriate;
- Verifying that each workstation is equipped with all necessary emergency forms and telephone numbers;
- Conducting periodic and unannounced on-site inspections of workstations and personnel;
- Recognizing that robbery is primarily a business crime;
- Caring for their own safety first, before considering others' safety;
- Complying with the offender's demands, if it's possible; and
- Facilitating the offender's successful completion of the robbery, if it's possible.
- Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that their employees take preventive measures to reduce the likelihood of a robbery, including:
- Constantly remaining aware of their surroundings and their geographic location;
- Carefully following facility entry and exit safety measures;
- Remaining aware of other vehicular and pedestrian traffic while driving;
- Observing, reporting and acting upon any unusual incidents and behavior;
- Knowing what to do during a robbery, including:
- Knowing procedures to follow during emergency responses;
- Studying procedures;
- Reviewing suspect description and reporting forms; and
- Knowing the locations and capabilities of security devices;
- Periodically reviewing cash-handling and transfer operations;
- Cautioning employees about not discussing person and business issues with non-institution employees, such as:
- Institution and employee information;
- Physical layout of the office;
- Personal matters;
- Details of cash- and document-handling procedures;
- Transportation route information; and
- Security procedures.
- Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that their employees take appropriate measures to protect themselves and to assist a law enforcement agency during a robbery, including training them to:
- Stay calm and obey the suspect's orders exactly, repeating the orders back to the suspect before acting, if it's possible;
- Dialog with the suspect and ask permission to act before complying, if it's possible;
- Keep his/her hands in plain view and avoid rapid movements or actions that may be misinterpreted;
- Activate any alarms or cameras only when it is safe to do so;
- Be observant concerning the physical details of the suspect;
- Keep any notes or other items received from or left behind by the suspect and remember which areas of the facility were touched by the suspect, if it's possible;
- Observe the suspect's direction of travel, number of accomplices and their descriptions, and any other pertinent information; and
- Remember that no employee is to act in any way that might endanger his/her safety, or the safety of another person, including attempting to go to the aid of another employee being robbed.
- Supervisors are responsible for continuing to take appropriate and timely measures to protect their employees and to assist a law enforcement agency after a robbery, including:
- Verifying that any employees, customers and other persons are safe, or determining what medical assistance may be required;
- Moving any employees to a more private area, if it's possible, and remaining at the scene area to avoid evidence contamination;
- Identifying witnesses and asking them to remain, pending contact by the law enforcement agency;
- Contacting the Unit Security Officer by a cellular or a landline telephone, giving him/her all necessary information;
- Following the instructions received from the Unit Security Officer or a representative of the responsible law enforcement agency;
- Assigning staff employees to complete reports and forms as it's appropriate;
- Completing all supervisor's tasks, including the completion of reports and forms; and
- Referring all requests for interviews by the media to the law enforcement agency or the Security Director.
- If a prolonged investigation requires employees to remain at the scene, arranging for those employees to contact their families to report their safe condition.
- Ensuring that an institution manager will notify a family member, in person, of any employee injured during the robbery.
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First published on BankersOnline.com 3/26/01
Copyright, Security Education Systems. All rights reserved.
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