Getting Cash While Using Caution

Recent crimes near automated teller machines suggest, once again, that caution is the better part of valor.

ATM Safety Tips

* Use ATMs that are well-lighted; park in a well-lighted area.

* Before stopping, survey the area for loiterers.

* Put checks and deposit slips together while sitting in your locked car.

* Have someone with you if you’re using an ATM at night.

* Keep car keys in your hand.

* Have your card ready.

* Cancel the transaction and leave if you sense trouble.

* At a drive-up ATM, keep the passenger-side window closed and the doors locked.

* Be aware of others around you.

* Never write down your account’s access code.

* Return to the car before counting cash.

* Take your receipt from the ATM.

* If lights at or around the ATM aren’t working, do not use machine; report problems to bank’s 24-hour customer service operators.

* Most ATM robberies occur between 8 p.m. and midnight.

Police Locations

The idea hasn’t yet caught on in Orange County, but ATMs have been installed in the lobbies of 16 Los Angeles Police Department facilities to create secure locations.

* Central Division, 251 E. 6th St., Los Angeles.

* Crenshaw Plaza Mall (Baldwin Hills), near South Traffic substation, Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards, Los Angeles.

* Devonshire, 10250 Etiwanda Ave., Northridge.

* Foothill, 12760 Osborne Ave., Pacoima.

* Harbor, 2175 John S. Gibson Blvd., San Pedro.

* Hollywood, 1358 N. Wilcox Ave., Los Angeles.

* Pacific, 12312 Culver Blvd., Los Angeles.

* Parker Center (main lobby and downstairs), 150 N. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles.

* Police Academy, 1880 N. Academy Drive, Los Angeles.

* Rampart Detectives Division, 303 S. Union Ave., Los Angeles.

* Recruit Training Center, 5651 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles.

* 77th Street, 6000 S. St. Andrews Place, Los Angeles.

* Southwest, 1546 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles.

* Van Nuys, 6240 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys.

* West Valley, 19020 Vanowen St., Reseda.

* Wilshire, 4861 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles.

Sources: Times reports, California Bankers Assn., Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America and LAPD credit union