At the bank the other day

[tmajors]

Here's one for you that happened to me the other day.

I was at the bank making my weekly deposit. It was about 4pm in the afternoon and I was the only customer at the teller. There was a second customer talking to one of the loan officers at the desks. Also there had been 3 other bank robberies in the last week.

The teller I was talking to suddenly says "why is that guy looking in the window?". I look where she was looking and saw a younger guy maybe 19 years old in the obligatory gansta wear looking in the side window to the bank...completely opposite of the front door. I also notice a second guy standing off to the side a bit out of sight of the teller. I say "there's another guy there that you can't see". I ask the teller if maybe they know the guy working at the corner desk closest to them. She calls over and he has no idea who they are.

After about two minutes the two guys walk around the building, come into the bank and sit in the chairs for waiting. One of the other bank workers comes over and asks if they need assistance. Both of them say no they are waiting. There are two other tellers not doing anything (waiting for customers) and me and the other customer are the only people in the bank and they aren't waiting for the other customer.

My spider senses are tingling big time.

What would you do? Leave and be a witness outside or stay inside and be a witness?

I was done with my transaction and didn't feel like I could justify sticking around, but on the way out I made note of every car in the parking lot and drove off very slowly watching inside the bank at the same time. Nothing happened as far as I can tell, no news reports at least, just my danger sense going off and the kids being pretty suspicious.

 

[BigO01]

Sounds like your bank needs an armed security guard on duty .

I would have told the teller to call the cops because at that point all they have done is act suspiciously however they are loitering . This why there are loitering laws on the books , when the cops show up if they haven't got any legitimate business with the bank they are told to get out .

 

[Exmasonite]

yeah... i'd totally get out of that situation ASAP. hopefully the bank staff had already taken precautions given that the staff was already aware of the
situation.
not your job to have to deal with that... FDIC has the $$ covered and unless you're the bank security guy, not your problem.

 

[morcoth]

You did right, a cell phone photo of the cars would have been my next move.

Morcoth

 

[tmajors]

Sounds like your bank needs an armed security guard on duty .

Funny you should mention that. I don't think I've ever seen a real life armed bank security guard. I bank at 4 different banks, 7 branches, depending on what business or personal I'm making transactions at. I'm not sure any banks here have real life guards.

Course that could be why whenever a bank gets robbed here the police spend a week or so trying to find the suspect.

You did right, a cell phone photo of the cars would have been my next move.

Good call. Didn't think about that even though I had my phone out just in case I saw something while driving off.

 

[quatin]

Bank robbers are usually armed. It would be a high risk job to be an armed bank guard especially if you're the only one. The thieves may plot to take out the guard first. If banks are going to put in guards at least put in 3-4 in different areas so they can't all be taken down at once. Of course with (6-9) extra employees per bank (need 2-3 guards to rotate per position) it's certainly not cheap.

 

[greg531mi]

99% of the time, if a bank robber sees an armed guard, they will just go to another branch where there isn't one, if they had any brains......but a lot of them don't!!!

 

[evan price]

I chamber checked my six Glocks...I was ready for almost anything. I knew that if the need arose I could double-time it out to my truck and get my Barrett .50 up and running in case I needed to make some tactical shots at terrorists who were using cover. I also had a nice Bushmaster with all the tactical accessories in the trunk and my 870 to back that up. Don't worry I have all my bases covered.

I jumped out from behind the counter drawing a Glock 22 out from my waistline. I leveled it at his COM. I told him to take his hands slowly out of his pockets and put them over his head. He feigned a look of shock. I didn't fall for it as I knew I was right and that this thug probably had some cheap pocket pistol and he was getting ready to pull it.

He slowly pulled out his hands and I saw that they were empty. I slowly made my way towards him. I called out and told the teller working the counter to call security and have them page any other CCWers over the intercom. I wanted backup quick!!! And then to contact law enforcement. Luckily another CCWer was nearby. He rushed over here as quickly as possible. He had his gun drawn and assumed a tactical pose. His Sig 228 covered the bad guy while I cuffed him. My arms were tired from keeping my Glock trained on him while I waited for my CCWer brothers and sisters to come and back me up. I moved into bad breath distance so that I could cuff the gangsta thug lowlife Democrat.

Suddenly he spun around and tried to sucker punch me. Little did he know that I had taken a weekend seminar at the local gun range on close quarter's battle. I moved as quickly as my 350 lb. frame would allow me to move and I threw a palm strike like my CQB (Close Quarters Combat) instructor taught us in the weekend seminar. I never realized that it would save my life. His swing hit me in the belly but luckily he was not strong enough to harm me. My palm strike caught him in the nose and he went down like the football size burrito I ate last night, QUICKLY!

I quickly flexicuffed him and ordered the other CCWer to secure the scene. I drew and continued to do OODA loops. I was observing the area and going to check the scene. I figured I would check the room in the back and make sure no democratic constituents AKA thugs were hiding to jump some employee. The door to the backroom was locked. I called out to the teller. I said I needed his key to the backroom. A look of puzzlement crossed his face. I pulled the CCW badge I wear on my chain out (it's like the one Denzel Washington had in "Training Day") and told him "CCWer. I am ordering you to open this door so I can secure the scene. Got it kid?!?!" using my drill instructor voice. I learned to talk like that from my CCW instructor.

(With apologies to Xavier...)
http://blog.myspace.com/everymanafreeman

 

[Biker]

Good one, Xavier...

Biker

 

[ceetee]

You did well. It's not your responsibility to keep the bank safe, and if you just hung around for no apparant reason, and the S really did HTF, you risk being held liable for any force you used -- 'cause you were there "looking for trouble". My phone doesn't have a camera cuss: company phone), but photos of license plates taken on the sly would not be inappropriate.

As to armed guards in banks... Modern theory is that having an armed guard incurs high costs that are just not acceptable in today's business world. Between training, salaries, equipment, insurance expenses and payouts, and other benefits, it's just cheaper to pay out small lump sums to robbers once in a while. The efforts, then, turn to making sure those robbers' takes are as small as possible, while making every effort to capture them so they can't continue robbing.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Observe and Report.
Observe what you can, write it down if you can do so, and get the heck out so you can report it all later.

 

[Biker]

Yup. My main carry gun is a Taurus 450. She holds five rounds of 45LC.
I calculate that's enough to get me into trouble or get me out of it - not both.

Biker

 

[PPGMD]

Funny you should mention that. I don't think I've ever seen a real life armed bank security guard. I bank at 4 different banks, 7 branches, depending on what business or personal I'm making transactions at. I'm not sure any banks here have real life guards.

Around here the only bank I have seen that has had a guard was the Royal Bank of Canada (I live in Florida, I'm still trying to figure that one out).

Hmm I remember once I was at the bank depositing a check and the guy next to me ended up to be trying to cash a forged check. I realized after the fact that all I noticed was his black sweats and his black leather hat (talk about a stereotypical BG clothing) I don't remember a thing about his face, even though he stood out to me was very nervous.

 

[Chui]

Evil must wear a sign

All black baggy wear is today's urban bad guy gear! It's the equivalent of my Crye Precision, 511 gear and whatnot!

 

[TallPine]

When I was in HS I worked after school at a neighborhood bank (mail room/runner/etc). Even they had an armed guard on duty much of the time - usually an off duty city cop. I remember that on several occasions I got to chat with the guard during his break. We talked about a lot of things back then, even "open carry" (which was and is legal in CO) and he told some "war stories"

Nowadays you never see a guard in a bank

Personally, I think the guard ought to be up on a raised platform with a rifle

MT has this stupid law that even with CCW permit you can't carry into a bank
Anymore, I just use the drive-up

 

[frostbiker]

The tellers and bankers did what they were supposed to do...greet the customers as they walked into the bank. They may have been waiting for another person in line to cash a check, or were casing the place. Nine times out of ten it is nothing to worry about. That is not to say you shouldn't be observant at all times.

Had a similar situation occur when working in a branch on a Saturday. Two young men come in and stand at the entrance to the lobby. My desk was off to the right and not immediately visible to the front door. You actually have to turn 180 to see me when you walk in. Same with the off-duty sheriff's deputy on the left side of the entry. These guys didn't look around. There were two other customers being helped by the tellers. One guy stands in line and the other hangs back at the entrance with his back to me, fidgeting with something stuffed deep in his baggy trousers.

I immediately walked over to the deputy, who was reading the paper, and informed him that I saw guy #2 adjust something very similar to a weapon in his pants. I couldn't be certain, but didn't take the chance. At that point, the deputy started paying closer attention while feigning interest in his paper. I walk back to my desk and sit down. I walked by guy #2 both times and asked both times if they needed help. He declined and I advised he'd be more comfortable in our waiting area. I have eye contact with this guy and he is avoiding me like the plague. I turned and noticed guy #1 is scope locked on the tellers and not looking around while in line. I sit down and casually keep an eye on things.

The teller was on her game, too. Before the guy #1 walked up to be helped, our security noticed guy #2 by the door fidgeting with his hands deep in his pockets again. He loudly asks the man to take his hands out of his pockets and keep them in plain sight. Guy #1 turns around at this and the game has changed for both of them. He (#1) approaches the teller and hands her some pesos to exchange. We don't do currency exchange. He lays some lame story about how his brother at Wells Fargo said someone over at WAMU heard from a lady in a Subway sandwich shop we exchange pesos. She told him no, he protested, she said no again, and I walked up to intervene. He was getting a bit testy now. When I approached, he beat a hasty retreat saying he was in the wrong bank.

The situation stunk bad. The guard got the license plate of their car and called his dispatcher. Don't know if anything came of it. We never heard from them again.

For all I know, they really wanted to exchange some pesos!

I forgot to mention: My normal weekday branch has no security. Only a handful of our branches carry a fulltime security guard...usually an off-duty police officer.

 

[bogie]

My old neighborhood had an "old fashioned" bank. They had an armed guard.

He was the first one that was shot in a holdup.

They caught the guys.

 

[EVIL5LITER]

Around here the only bank I have seen that has had a guard was the Royal Bank of Canada (I live in Florida, I'm still trying to figure that one out).

Regions Bank recently purchased Amsouth Bank. Because Regions already had such a large presence in the area, due to banking monopoly laws, they had to sell some of the branches to another bank.

I think they picked the weakest, least likely bank to offer any kind of competition to them.