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Robbery Deterrence: Security Guards vs. Equipment and Procedures

Question: 
I am the Security Manager and our branch office, located in a small rural town, has been robbed three times in the past nine months. In the first robbery, the robber wore a disguise and a gun was displayed. In the second robbery, no weapon was displayed AND the robber became nervous and just grabbed money from a customer and fled. In the third robbery, the robber wore a disguise, a knife was displayed and the robber went behind the teller line. There were at least a dozen customers in the branch at the time of the robbery. In all three robberies, the staff followed banking procedures, and there were no injuries.Senior management and branch personnel want to hire an unarmed security guard for 3 to 6 months. I expressed my concerns that a security guard may provide the staff with a false sense of security, escalate the situation toward more violence rather than controlling or deterring the situation, and present many liability issues.I have recommended the below listed action steps to deter a future robbery:<ol><li>Install additional cameras (2 exeterior and 1 at the rear entrance) and a monitor at the rear entrance. Approved by senior management.</li><li>Repair the locks on the doors leading behing the teller line. (The Branch never informed Maintenance the locks were broken.) Approved by senior management.</li><li>Consider renovating the interior of the branch to allow branch personnel to view customers entering via the rear entrance. (Currently, when indivdiuals enter the rear door, they must walk down a hallway before they can be seen by branch employees. All three robbers entered via the rear entrance.) Senior management is currently considering thsi request.</li><li>Install dye packs at the teller stations. (We currently have just a motion triggered vault pack.) - Approved by senior management.</li><li>Close the rear entrance to customers. Require customers to enter via the front door. - This recommendation was flatly refused by senior management.</li></ol>Note: We did meet with the local and state police to discuss possible action steps. Unfortunately, the police informed senior management they felt a security guard would act as a deterrent.I am having a difficult time convincing senior management not to hire a securty guard.Your thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.Also, if you have any articles or statitistics regarding the use of guards, I would appreciate receiving a copy.
Answer: 

Answer by Andy Zavoina:

I believe that a guard does act as a deterrent, although ours are armed.

Ensure that the guards are properly trained and they should avoid the lobby confrontations you are worried about.

Answer: 

Answer by Dana Tuner:

It's unfortunate that your branch has become so popular -- for all of the wrong reasons. You also might amend your statement that there were no injuries -- there are likely long-term psychological and emotional injuries. What you're describing is your need to develop a "security environment" -- one that's "offender-hostile" and yet "customer-friendly", with employee and customer safety as the first priority. Please consider these suggestions:

  1. An effective security environment has five (5) logical components:
    -- Employees and other institution-affiliated parties;
    -- Customers and other persons likely to be on the premises, including vendors;
    -- Facilities that you own or control;
    -- Assets that are tangible and intangible; and
    -- Records from internal and external sources.

  2. The key to your question is employee and customer safety. The answer to the security guard issue needs to address both employee and institutional needs. Find out from your employees:
    -- On a scale of 1 - 10, how safe do they feel after these events?
    -- What additional training do they want?
    -- What reasonable security enhancements would they like to see you put in place?
  3. If your robbery training only deals with a "stand-up" robbery, you've missed several other types. Each type often requires different response procedures, including: (go to BOL's main page for 01-28-02 for the FBI's latest statistics on robberies):
    -- Robbery using a weapon;
    -- Robbery using a threat only;
    -- Robbery using a note;
    -- Robbery using a bomb or bomb threat; and
    -- Robbery committed by several offenders (take-over).
  4. Concerning your recommendations to management:
    -- 1., 2. and 3. -- fine;
    -- 4. Remove the "bill trap" connection and include a "homing device" if your local law enforcement agency can track it;
    -- 5. Your recommendation is appropriate because this is a safety issue. Your senior management may bear personal liability if -- based upon historical issues that demonstrate that leaving this door open contributed to the robberies -- you continue to allow people to use this door.
  5. Security guards may provide protection and defense -- but at what cost? Consider that there are three (3) types of contract security guards (four (4) if the guard is your employee):
    -- Unarmed: inexpensive, and possibly useful for guarding property only;
    -- Armed: moderate cost, and possibly useful for guarding property and persons; and
    -- Off-duty, sworn law enforcement officers: expensive, most useful for guarding property and persons, liability borne by the agency and able to enforce the laws of your state while working for you.

I agree with your local law enforcement agency about the use of security guards -- with limits. Unfortunately, the Security Officer is often responsible for implementing unpopular or inconvenient processes -- and it's particularly unfortunate when he/she doesn't agree with the decisions made by others. Another BOL user posed a question to me last week that should be featured in next week's edition. Please check back next week for more information.

First published on BankersOnline.com 2/4/02

First published on 02/04/2002

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