A bank robber turned security expert offers four keys for reducing your risk of robbery

By Apryl Motley

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Bank Crime Statistics for the first quarter of this year, more than 1,000 bank robberies had been committed as of March. The vast majority of these crimes were committed by men at bank branches rather than in main offices, and most took place in commercial districts.

Hopefully, your community bank wasn't among those robbed—and, hopefully, it will never be. To that end, there are some simple, but important, steps that you can take to ensure your bank's physical security.

Author and professional speaker Troy D. Evans says it's entirely possible to make your community bank robbery-proof. And Evans ought to know: A convicted bank robber who served eight years in federal prison after committing five armed bank robberies, he speaks from experience.

"Do all that you can to prevent it," he says. "Bank robbery is an act of desperation, particularly in this economy. There are plenty of institutions to choose from, so you can keep perpetrators from choosing your bank."

Evans says the key to physical security is creating an environment in which a potential robber does not want to be. Here are Evans' top recommendations for making your community bank less attractive to potential robbers:

1. Greet everyone who enters the branch.

"If your front-line people are trained properly and keeping their eyes open, you know 90 percent of the people who come into the bank," Evans says. It should be bank policy for any employee who sees an individual in the branch whom he or she does not recognize to approach that person, extend a hand and ask, "What can we do for you today?"

Evans recalls several instances when he entered banks with the intention of robbing them, but didn't because a staff person greeted him at the door.

2. Maintain a male presence in the lobby.

"I walked into dozens of institutions with every intent of committing robbery only to walk up to the teller, hand the person a $10 bill and ask for a roll of quarters based on a male presence," Evans writes in a recent article.

If you are not able to maintain a consistent male presence in your lobby, it's most critical to do so between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Fridays mornings. According to Evans, at least 50 percent of robberies occur between these hours on this particular day of the week.

3. Create a suspicious activities log.

Make sure each workstation is supplied with a journal for writing brief notes if a staff person observes something out of the ordinary or sees someone he or she does not recognize.

Evans says, "Every bank is cased to a certain extent," and bank managers should review these notes weekly if not daily so that they can detect any patterns that indicate the bank has been cased for a robbery and take appropriate measures to prevent it.

4. Require all employees to sign nondisclosure agreements.

These agreements should stipulate that they will not share with anyone—family included—the policies of your institution relative to security procedures and training.

Evans notes that there have been numerous instances where bank employees have unknowingly provided "inside information" to potential robbers. "As you implement your security training, you want to be sure that information isn't being shared around the dining room table," he cautions.

In sum, a community bank's best defense against robbery is a good offense. "You don't want to get complacent," Evans says. "You should have employee training annually on what to do before, during and after a robbery."

Apryl Motley is an IB contributing editor.