Should robbery alarms be mandatory on all ATMs?
For people of a certain generation, the defining ATM burglary moment was when Will took a bullet for Carlton on that watershed episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Okay, there are probably a few more serious examples than that, but the fact remains we’re all exposed when we withdraw cash in a public space.
So we want security at an ATM – and, to a certain degree, we have it. Keypad covers to disguise your PIN; mirrors to see if anyone is lurking behind; dings on bank vestibule doors so you can hear if someone else enters. But is that enough?
Indeed, one of the hot-button issues within the bank security community these days is ATM alarms, which are designed to aid victims facing a stick-up in real-time.
The silent alarms, as they are in effect, seem like a no brainer, but according to one new report, they might be both expensive and useless.
A Federal Trade Commission release notes that ATM alarms – such as alarm buttons or a secret distress PIN code to alert cops you’re getting robbed – are rarely installed on many cash machines.
The reason? Their cost, about $1,500 to retrofit just one ATM with the alarms, is one, but so is their lack of effectiveness.
Apparently, the alarms are largely futile when it comes to actually stopping robberies in progress. Rarely can police respond to an alarm in time when a crook is taking your money right now, and often the security systems only result in false alarms (by one pilot program, a U.S. ATM equipped with an alarm led to 500 false reportings and zero real robbery notifications, according to the Consumerist).
Still, even though there are other security measures you can take – scanning an ATM for pinhole cameras, ensuring the card slot isn’t loose, suggesting the presence of a skimmer, etc. – wouldn’t you just feel better if each ATM had an alarm, if for no other reason than a little deterrence for crooks?
ATM users: what do you think? Should it be mandatory for alarms to be installed on all ATMs?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Fertility Blend Reviews | Sep 23, 2021 9:50:41 PM
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Posted by: Flyinbryan | Sep 24, 2021 10:56:47 AM
I think the alarm pin is a good idea for ATM machines that are in the front entrance of a bank. The ones you have to use your card to open the doors to get in to use the ATM. But one thing the alarm pin should do is not only alert the police, it should lock the doors. In this case the robber will be trapped, so will definitely be caught; and even though the robber would be trapped with the victim, knowing that they are going to be caught for sure will almost eliminate the risk of them harming the victim and adding more charges to be convicted of. Also the alarm doesn't need to be silent; it should set off a circus of lights and sirens to alert any passer-byers that there is a robber in that room. That would reduce the risk of the robber harming the victim even more, because he isn't going to do anything with everyone watching. Sure it would be terrifying to the victim to go through all of that, but they would be aware of what happens when the alarm pin is used, so if they have any traumatizing lawsuit to bring because of it, they'll get nowhere because they entered the pin knowing the result.
Posted by: T S-D | Sep 24, 2021 7:48:40 PM
I worked for a Canadian Bank as a teller, briefly, last year. I was dumb-struck by the current advice given out about robberies in banks: When they walk up to you and say "give me the money" - you just GIVE it to them.... Plain and simple. No alarms, no trying to alert other staff or customers, no funny business, no take-downs. You can actually be FIRED for trying to stop the robbery! The "experts" believe that this avoids potential violent confrontation.... It also means that my 10 year old could walk in and hold up a bank, and no-one would even attempt to stop him! And they wonder why so many banks get robbed these days?!?!?! DUHHH! Where I live, it is a common occurence. Seriously, so common that we barely notice now. So, no surprise then that the same thieves might think its AOK to walk up to me when I'm using the ATM and demand my cash, and fully expect to walk away with it without so much as a filthy-look from me! Its called conditioning people. These thieves feel entitled!!!! We now need to make tougher sentences against these offences so that IF these people get caught, they DON"T get back onto our streets to do it again, rather than putting them through the revolving door. Robbery is robbery - I don't care that they're feeding their habit - no sympathy! Put them away somewhere that they're not going to bother me, or anyone else!!!!
Posted by: E;J Hartman | Sep 24, 2021 8:09:10 PM
The only way to stop ATM robberies is to incorporate the, "panic pin number" inside the actual debit/credit card. This is actually easy enough to program so that when a threat is made at an ATM the victim would actually type his/hers pin number in backwards. The ATM would then proceed to obey the commands to withdraw money. However a message appears saying, available for withdrawal $20.00 as well a silent alarm is also activated to alert police. Now the punk is thinking, okay at least I got something, the victim or bank is only loosing $20.00 and the police are en route! To have a general panic button or panic code will never work because of curiosity and carelessness. Alarms must be silent and not loud since you want to catch the thief by surprise and not provoke the, 'betrayal system". The comment of this is also incorrect to mention, "lock the thief in the same room as the victim". Who wants to be locked in a room with a crackhead?
Posted by: jay | Sep 25, 2021 12:25:03 AM
I have seen quite a few robberies and studied criminal behaviour and the biggest assest to a person who is going to rob someone is not being noticed. If an alarm is set off with lights, sirens and mabey even a voice that says something like HELLO I AM CURRENTLY BEING ROBBED or sometyhing to that effect would make a robber very nervous and 95% of the time on average a robber flees when discovered or feels exposed and will bypass whatever they are after and not stick around to hurt anyone either.
They may not get caught but they will definitely think twice before trying a robbery again and if it happens enough times they will get tired of trying and move onto something else or get caught.
Also another advantage to this system is that if anyone is around the area that is willing to possibly help to see if anyone needs medical attention the system would alert them to the location.
Last point i will make.
Houses and cars with alarms get robbed and stolen approximately 80% less then houses and cars without alarm systems.
Posted by: Jack | Sep 25, 2021 9:07:05 PM
What work the best for me is to pull a knife on the robber. They do not expect this reaction. I have already knifed one of these scumbags. Hopefully killed him, but I didn't stick around to find out. Fortunately, I did not insert my card into the ATM before this happened, otherwise, I would have been tracked. No witnesses, no evidence.
Posted by: Pierre, Ontario, Canada | Sep 26, 2021 9:03:57 PM
About bank ATM crimes...
The bright lights (enough to temporarily "blind" people), the loud noises (enough to temporarily deafen), the clearly visible/audible police APB being sent out, the doors locking and working hi-res cameras clearly being activated, along with a ceiling mounted remotely controlled stunner/taser type device, are actually probably a very good idea, IFF given sufficient publicity, well in advance.
In fact, whole-field-of-view, ceiling-mounted, 360-degree cameras operating 24/7, with recordings being kept a month, with full audio-video capabilities, should be the first thing installed in all ATM's. It should be required as a condition of business for all banks, etc. No security, we pull your corporate charter, you're out of business. Of course, that would take a government with balls, and concern for the citizenry.
The crooks would then KNOW to avoid ATM's. There would have to be some dramatic police responses to the first few "events", with the "so-called" (fake) victim being heavily fined for false alerts, and in the case of a real robbery the perpetrator being punished up the wazoo... yes.. this would convince the crooks this is not another "victim-less crime" they can get away with.
A little over a year ago my old car died. I got another used vehicle. This vehicle has been hit 4 times by vandals in the year. The last car had been hit about 12 times in 5 years. The police do not even want to hear about the vandalisms. When you call, they act as if you are interrupting their solitaire game. If you are lucky, you can get an incident number for your insurance. Getting someone to respond, takes a miracle, and even then, there is no investigation. All crimes short of murder (or a major arson), around here, are victim-less. And even if they catch someone, the turnstile justice system sends the crook out better off than before he/she was caught. These are the things we need to change! But get a minor traffic ticket, and they almost want the death penalty. Go figure! That's the problem today. Stray bears have more rights than taxpayers & voters.
We need a real police FORCE, and a REAL Justice System, that works. Let's drop the gun registry toys, the inane census arguments, and all the other crap. Time to get civil servants, police, courts, and government working for the people (not the crooks), as they should.