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Robbery Risk: Multiple Entry Points Into The Building

Question: 
My bank's corporate office and branch are combined in one office building. The majority of upper management is located on the second floor of the building. The first floor consist of branch personal, loan processing and the collection department. Currently there is one alarm on the first floor, that is used for the entire building. My delima is that upper management would like to have an additional alarm on the second floor and be able to enter the second floor through a back door on the fire escape. I see this as a good way for a morning glory robbery to take place. Not to mention the safety concerns of the fire escape. The first and second floor are connected by an elevator. This would allow a would be robber to accoust someone entering the building on the second floor and gain entry to the first floor via the elevator. Personnel on the first floor would enter the building without knowing a robber was inside. I would appreciate any additional points or statistics you could provide.
Answer: 

Answer by: Dana Turner

Your concerns are justified. Just for a second, transform your bank building into an airport. Would the airport allow passengers maintenance personnel and crew members to enter the gates just anywhere?

Every employee should enter the building using the same entrance. The second floor door should also be alarmed and covered by a camera, because of the elevator access to the first floor.

Answer: 

Answer by: Barry Thompson

Dana is absolutely correct with his answer to you. I once worked with a bank which had a similar problem and the President wouldn't allow us to control the door. In our case the door was inside the building on the second floor and unlocked. The staircase next to the door led down to a customer entrance lobby. Each morning the outside door was unlocked after 8 AM allowing customers to stand inside the building during bad weather. Another set of doors guarded the main lobby of the bank and were opened at 9 AM to allow access to the customers from the entrance lobby.

This was allowed until one irate customer used the staircase and door to enter the bank before opening hours. This incident provided enough incentive for the President to reconsider this security weakness.

First published on BankersOnline.com 11/5/01

First published on 11/05/2001

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