RSSModern technology in banks
February 26, 2009
kosmo - See all 763 of my articles
For years, I have been frustrated by the apparent lack of interest that banks have shown in security cameras. Any time video or photos were shown on TV, the images seemed to be grainy. This always seemed odd. If any business were going to invest in high quality cameras, wouldn’t it be the business that is trying to protect a vault full of cash?
In October, a local bank was robbed. The security photos were awesome. The images were crystal clear, and the robber was even nice even to turn to the side and give the camera a nice view of his profile. Someone actually correctly identified the robber within the comments section of the TV station’s web site. The guy was a local. (Hey, maybe consider robbing a bank more than 20 miles from your house?) Needless to say, it did not take long for the cops to arrest him. Just one day, in fact. They managed to find him in possession of they money, which tends to help the criminal case a bit.
Hopefully more banks will move to higher quality cameras.
In January, a bank robber in Ohio got a bit of a surprise when he tried to flee the scene. After he passed through the first door, the teller flipped a switch the locked both of the double doors, trapping the robber in the entryway. The glass doors were bulletproof, so the robber could only wait until policy arrived to arrest him (of course, this particular robber didn’t have a weapon, anyway).
Not only is this a cool way to stop the robber dead in his tracks, but the bank might even making a profit selling the video to COPS. The robber’s first few frantic minutes running around inside his cage could be quite entertaining.
Feb 26, 2009 @ 08:02:00
pfft surveillance state – I can’t go anyway without being involuntarily watched. Slippery slope.
Feb 26, 2009 @ 11:39:00
taitle – yeah, I understand your concern about cameras all over the place. I think the UK has more of an issue with this than the US. I think it makes a lot of sense to have them inside a bank, though. My emphasis is on upgrading the image quality of the cameras that are already in place.
Mar 01, 2009 @ 15:40:00
I love what they’re doing with bank camera! My aunt (teller) was held up recently. She cooperated fully, nobody was hurt.
But the photo of the guy was such high quality…I couldn’t believe it. If I’d known him, I would have known him immediately, like the guy in your article.
Best of all is that they did catch him and because of the photos my aunt may not have to testify!