Tortoise

Post-robbery security

The time a robber spends in your institution may likely be the most terrifying few minutes of your life.

Once the robber leaves, you’ll probably feel like breathing a huge sigh of relief, grabbing your coat and heading for the door.

Post-robbery security

While that reaction is understandable, your work is not done.

What you do in the critical first few moments after a robbery is central to the investigation.

Post-robbery security

The Bank Protection Act states that all depository institutions must have a designated security officer.

Still, all employees — including you — should be aware of security procedures.

designated security officer

Who is the designated security officer at your institution, Ram? CLOSE

Occasionally in this course, you’ll come across Close-ups that provide additional details. Click on the blue, underlined text for more information whenever it appears.

Post-robbery security

Here’s my point.

Suppose police arrive on the scene before the robber has managed to get away. The robber might come back into the institution to take hostages.

This is a very dangerous situation, because the robber is armed ... upset ... and now trapped.

Post-robbery security

In addition to making sure the doors are locked, notifying police and management is your other top priority — even if you’ve already set off an alarm.

Once you’ve called the police, you should keep the phone line open until officers arrive. That allows the police to stay in contact and monitor any changes in the situation.

Post-robbery security

It’s also important to lock cash drawers after a holdup.

Cash security is important at all times — and especially after a robbery.

Post-robbery security

Additional security measures include:

· blocking off the robbery area to preserve fingerprints, footprints and any other evidence.

· handing out suspect description forms to all witness as soon as you can. (Everyone who’s required to give a statement should have a chance to do so while details are still fresh in their minds.)

blocking off

To block off the immediate scene of the robbery, you can set up a barrier of chairs or use adhesive tape to isolate that area. Make sure no one touches or removes any evidence. In fact, it’s a good idea to keep everyone away from that part of the building. CLOSE

Post-robbery security

All witnesses should be separated from one another while filling out the description forms. (That’s so they don’t compare notes and get confused.)

Now, click forward for a quick exercise on security procedures.

You've been robbed!

The robber has left the building and you’re looking at a suspect description form. What do you know for sure? Fill out this mini-version of the form, Ram.

A. The robber is a:
black female white female Hispanic male

B. The robber’s hair is:
long, straight dark, curly can’t tell

C. The robber’s eye color is:
blue brown can’t tell

D. Does the robber have a weapon?
yes no can’t tell

Make one selection for each fact and then click the Done button.

Correct

Very accurate, Ram. CONTINUE

Incorrect

No, as you can see, this robber has made it difficult to come up with a good description. One thing I think we can say, despite the disguise, is that this is a white female. CONTINUE