Bio:
Barry Thompson is an international speaker, trainer, consultant, and former banker. He is one of the original security “Gurus” for BankersOnline and regularly presents security conferences for trade groups. He has trained over 51,000 financial professionals.
Barry is recognized worldwide, presenting in Brussels, Belgium to European bankers on internal fraud; at the United Nations on identity theft; and to Japanese bankers on bank security. Barry has worked in the financial services industry for over four decades, and has held the positions of security officer, compliance officer, treasurer, senior vice president, and executive vice president. He has handled over 900 security cases and has been involved with investigations and prosecutions at the federal, state, and local levels. Barry is the author of 101 Security Tips for the Beginning Security Officer and has been interviewed by Newsweek, Computer World, USA Today, and other national publications.
Areas of Expertise:
Compliance Consulting
Security Consulting
Security Training
Questions Answered
03/16/2025
Is it still a good practice, or industry standard, to have a telephone hidden in the cash vault? We recently revamped our phone system, and in the process, most of the vault phones in our 8 branches were disconnected. Nobody checked with the Security Officer, they just determined that the phone lines in question didn’t have any history of being used, so they got disconnected. I recently did a Security Officer walk through of all the branches and discovered the vault phones were not working.
My recommendation was to hook them back up and I’m getting push back because of the cost.
03/02/2025
We have hired on a facilities coordinator to help with the maintenance of our buildings. He lives very close by to our main office and we are hoping that he could eventually become an after-hours contact for the security system as well, but my boss feels as though she remembers there possibly being an issue with doing this. Would you be willing to share your thoughts on this with us?
02/23/2025
Someone was telling us that a lot of businesses are now installing overdose kits (Narcan) in all their public locations and training staff on CPR, AED, OD, etc. I am not sure we want to do this yet. Have you been hearing about this also? Seems like a lot to ask of a staff member, but then again ODs do seem to be happening everywhere.
02/09/2025
My task is to write a short paragraph into our security policy to state that when anyone, be it legal or law enforcement, request documentation from our institution, they are required to do so with a subpoena. I had understood in my 38 years of banking, that such a requirement was standard operating procedure, so not necessary to spell out in a policy. We deal with more than 20 communities with nearly just as many law enforcement agencies. Apparently, we have a "Barney Fife-type" gentleman from a police agency in one town who threatened a warrant when he was told that we require a subpoena.
Can you shed some light on this?
01/26/2025
Traditionally, security is a cost center. Has anyone ever measured the actual value of security Maybe it is not as big a cost center; maybe there is added value. I know I have always mentioned things like the dollar amount of counterfeit checks seized in the annual report, but I wondered if someone had some type of ROI calculation?
01/19/2025
We have an annual staff meeting where each dept head does a quick overview of trends and what is happening in the industry. We only get around 5 minutes to present. I would like to discuss Elder Fraud, since it has been in the forefront for a while now. Do you happen to have some bullet points that will be impactful in a short presentation. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
01/12/2025
I wanted to get an opinion on the use of panic buttons in the bank, especially at the teller stations. I am weighing the risk of pushing it and being seen by the burglar in order to get authorities on site sooner (maybe). We are a smaller, rural bank with 5 locations. One location has a city PD, while the others rely on the county.
12/22/2024
I had a phone request from a law firm to release a portion of video camera footage showing vehicles driving by the branch during a specific date and time. The only footage that meets the parameters is from an inside camera that points to the front door that has the street in the background. It would be up to them to determine if the vehicle in question actually drove by the branch during that time period. What information would we require to release this footage, or would we not release it as it shows customer traffic inside the branch? What are your thoughts/suggestions?
12/22/2024
Would you mind giving your opinion on proximity card/fob access control on exterior doors for a financial institution? We have recently completed a new build and installed a keyless entry system on crash bar type doors. There is a key bypass option and, in the event of a power failure, the locks default to locked, requiring the key. Our president is of the opinion that these locks are not secure enough and is leaning toward adding traditional deadbolt locks. Of course, we have
door contact alarms and cameras as added security measures. The security department and our security vendor are of the opinion that these locks are as secure as other types. The ability to immediately disable or add users, eliminating the cost of locksmiths, the creation of entrance logs, are among other benefits.
12/15/2024
When it comes to interior lighting, what are your thoughts on motion-activated lighting versus 24/7 lights?
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