Phoning Home After A Robbery

Question: We noticed in your training video "Preparation Prevents Panic" that you say that immediately after a robbery the victim teller should call home. Why do you advise that?

Answer: Obviously we want our people to be of as much help as possible to the police when, in the aftermath of a robbery, they are trying to obtain as much information about what happened, what was said, descriptions, etc. Robbery, even a one-on-one, is extremely traumatic. And it used to be that we would, as quickly as possible, isolate the victim teller and encourage them to write down all they could remember about the incident.

We've learned a lot in recent years about how to deal with trauma. One of the things that we've come to realize is that it's more difficult to remember details when a person is emotionally stressed out than when they are in a more calm frame of mind.

Consider what will happen when that teller (and let's just assume for sake of practicality that the teller is a female - almost 85% of our tellers are) gets a loved one on the telephone. Probably one of the first sentences out of her mouth will be, "You'll never guess what just happened to me!" As soon as she gets a response from the other end of the phone, she'll probably start crying.

Let her.

Once that emotional tension is released, then that is the time to sit down and remember details and write them down. Experts tell us the difference in memory is threefold! And the trauma healing will also begin much more quickly.

Copyright © 2001 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2/01