Increase in Bank Robberies Adds Stress to Tellers’ Lives

The bank teller had scanned the customer as usual for telltale signs. No dark glasses, no large or unseasonal jacket. He seemed harmless. Until he passed her a note.

She froze. She did not want to read it. Slowly, she looked down and through her panic saw the words, “What’s my balance?” She relaxed. The man was deaf.

It’s been a rough year for Orange County bank tellers. Of the county’s 832 branches, 298 were robbed last year, contrasted with 195 in 1985, according to the FBI. And eight days into the new year, there had been 13 bank robberies.

Authorities attribute the 1986 increase to population growth and the proliferation of financial institutions. Most robberies were in the north county, and at least 20 banks were hit more than once. The worst month, as usual, was December with nearly two bank robberies occurring every day.

Many tellers take robbery in stride as part of the job. But some say the recent rash of robberies has caused them, like the fictional Inspector Clouseau, to suspect everyone--and no one.

“I don’t want to come in every day and be paranoid,” said one teller who has been robbed twice in her job at First Interstate Bank in Huntington Beach. (Bank officials requested tellers not be identified for fear of reprisals.)

But after seeing half a dozen other tellers robbed at the same branch, which is on Edinger Avenue near several other financial institutions, she has become more aware. She scrutinizes all customers and keeps her cash supply low.

Less than a dozen of last year’s robberies involved violence, and no one was killed in them, according to the FBI. Most, like those at First Interstate, consisted of one robber passing a note or demanding money from one teller. Many losses are minimal and 80% of the robbers are caught, says Dave Struck, special agent in the FBI’s Santa Ana office. He declines to discuss exact amounts of loses, but newspaper clippings show banks usually lose under $1,000 in a typical robbery.

But there is always the potential for danger when a gun is used, Struck says. “Far and away the majority are narcotics addicts who rob to get the funds to support their unfortunate narcotics habit. They’re not thinking straight anyway. It takes very little pressure to make the gun fire. It’s something we’re quite concerned about.”

Said one teller: “It’s definitely on everyone’s mind each day. You almost get a feeling it’s going to happen.”

Tellers say they have been afraid of customers who forget to remove their motorcycle helmets or those at Halloween who wear costumes. Once a woman inadvertently handed deposit slips--with the words “I am holding you up” scrawled on the back--to the drive-up teller. Children had written the message as a joke. But police did not think it was funny, and even though the woman was a regular customer, police held her for questioning.

When customers look suspicious, one teller said, “I look to see what’s in their hands, if they have a check book or passbook. I can get worked up pretty good by the time they get to the window. Usually, it’s nothing.”

But, she says, danger is possible anywhere one works with cash and the public. “I was more afraid when I worked the graveyard shift at Carl’s,” she said.

“Personally, I feel safer working in a bank than in a convenience store,” said Vicki Freedman, operations manager at First Interstate. One of her friends was killed by a robber while working at a convenience store, she said.

Bank tellers are more likely to face danger than any other white collar worker, says Hal Henrick, an industrial psychologist and director of USC’s Institute of Safety and Systems Management. An individual’s chances of being held up, he says, depend on the location of the branch, its robbery history and nature of the security system.

In general, it is more likely that a bank teller will be robbed than an airline attendant will be hijacked by a terrorist, Henrick says. Tellers’ job-related stress is less, however, because they know their chances of being hurt are less if they cooperate with the robber.

Banks can help reduce stress with highly visible security measures such as television cameras and monitors, bank guards or bulletproof glass between the tellers and customers, Henrick says. It was a continually running video camera focused on the single customer line that enabled police to catch the last robber at her First Interstate, according to Freedman.

Since 1968, when the federal government required certain security measures such as alarms, locks and lights for all federally insured banks, security measures have become highly sophisticated, says Ed Pistey, director of security for First Interstate. However, bank officials decline to reveal specific security policies and procedures.

First Interstate, with 326 branches statewide, is also compiling a computer analysis of robberies in an effort to develop a prevention strategy, according to Pistey. “We’ll analyze the data to find commonalities in date, time, method so we can make changes to reduce the attractiveness of that particular branch,” he said.

Training tellers to remain calm and alert enough to provide an accurate description is also crucial, Pistey says.

Many banks have post-robbery policies for tellers.

“We send them flowers,” said Freedman. “It’s a tough way to get flowers.”

Some banks offer psychiatric or psychological counseling.

“We do a post-traumatic stress session with employees in the bank,” said Susan Thompson, regional administrator for First Interstate’s employee assistance programs. “Even a piece of paper (a holdup note) passed can be very traumatic. If a person is having difficulty in their personal life, a note being passed saying ‘Give me your money’ can be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

In the sessions people discuss their reactions, which may include sleeplessness, lack of appetite, fear of being alone or irritability.

“All of these things we build on and say that’s your body’s way of coping with a trauma,” Thompson said. “We basically let them know that’s OK.”

Thompson also looks for more severe reactions. “We can determine whether someone is going off the deep end. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

“We’ve had hostages and complete takeovers of branches. Shotguns and everyone down on their faces and people have really come through it very soundly.

“One of the things drilled into the teller’s head is do what he says. Don’t ever say no, fight back or withhold.”

Paul Blair, a UCI Medical Center psychiatrist and consultant with Bank of America, advises tellers to ask the robber’s permission before making any move.

But even though tellers stay calm and follow procedures, they may still have post-robbery reactions ranging from tears to abject depression, Blair says.

Customers who witness a robbery are not as emotionally vulnerable as employees, according to Blair, because “employees experience robbery in terms of a violation of his workplace, his work family, and that’s a significant difference from someone who is passing through and has the option of not feeling violated.”

Blair, who has has been called 14 times in the past three years to debrief victims of Southern California bank robberies, said there is “a growing awareness there are psychological difficulties that do arise when these traumatized people are not dealt with in a prompt, orderly psychologically aware fashion.”

One employee who was robbed last year in Orange County was psychologically traumatized after a bank takeover in which gunshots were fired, according to Blair.

“He couldn’t sleep. After initial debriefing, he chose not to follow through with organized therapy,” Blair said. “The situation languished for four or five months. The person’s marriage decayed to some extent. His appetite for food waned. He started to experience the (symptoms) that other people feel. They have startle reactions, they jump or shudder or experience weight loss. He began to have nightmares.”

Eventually he returned to therapy, where he was diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder. Blair said the man was placed on an anti-depressant medication, and was able to return to work.

Counseling did not help another Orange County teller who “made herself very paranoid” after a note-across-the-counter robbery, according to Susan Huerta, operations officer at El Camino Bank in Tustin.

“She handled herself very well, remained calm, did exactly what she was instructed to do,” Huerta said. “After it was all over, she was very paranoid of everybody who came in or really cautious in her transactions. At the slightest error or difference, she panicked.”

Believing a new environment might help, managers transferred the teller to another office. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work,” Huerta said. “She was robbed there again.” The woman is no longer in banking.