Banks and Hostage Attacks by John Burnett
News from Northern Ireland of a brazen bank heist netting upwards of $40 million cash serves as an all-too-real reminder of the need to raise the level of training and preparation for similar scenarios in U.S. banks.
The assault on two key officers of the Northern Bank began over the weekend as each was confronted by members of the robbery team, disguised as police. The bank officers and their families were taken captive, and the families were held as hostages as the officers were made to return on Monday, December 20, to the head office of the Northern Bank, to admit other members of the gang to clean out the bank's cash.
Police and media are focusing on the possibility that the heist was carried off by members of the paramilitary organizations closely aligned with the IRA.
Lest U.S. bankers assume that hostage-taking is the stuff of foreign terrorist organizations, another hostage drama played out this week in Idaho. Also on Monday evening, the Boise office of U.S. Bank was held up, and the robbers took an elderly couple hostage during their escape attempt.
In June 2003 the First National Bank of Plainfield (Illinois) was held up for $25,000. When police responded to a silent alarm, Edward Binert, convicted in November 2004 of the holdup, held several hostages during the several hours required to negotiate his surrender. Binert was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
As noted in a court decision not released for official publication, Bank of America recently won an appeal in a case in which it had been sued by a former employee who alleged that the bank had failed to warn her or provide training concerning a rash of bank robberies involving home invasions and hostage-taking during the late 1990s. Quoting from the findings of the court, "In this type of robbery, the robbers target as hostages not only a vulnerable bank employee who has access to the bank vault, but also the employee's family members. Typically, the robbers look for bank managers living in an isolated rural setting. The robbers then invade the bank manager's home, subdue the household, attach explosives to the members of the household, and demand that the bank manager take money from the bank's vault in exchange for the safe release of her loved ones."
According to the court documents, the former BofA branch manager's home was invaded and her family was held hostage as she was forced to take money from the bank's vault and give it to the robbers. While the court found no duty to warn from a legal standpoint, from a practical standpoint it just makes sense to prepare employees for this type of eventuality.
How well prepared are your staff members for a robbery? Have you trained your management team on methods designed to discourage would-be hostage takers? It's not easy to listen to these threats to the safety of our coworkers and families, but they must understand the possibilities if they are to avoid or manage them.
First published on BankersOnline December 22, 2004.
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