Debate Escalates on Undercover Guards

Locked into an arms race with robbers, banks are defending themselves with an increasing number of security measures, including the hiring of retired and off-duty police officers as undercover guards who pose as customers but are ready to use deadly force.

A bank robbery attempt Tuesday in Van Nuys was foiled by two such guards who killed one would-be robber, identified as Ladon Jayson Reed, 23, of Los Angeles. His alleged accomplice is listed in serious but stable condition with gunshot wounds. Police are seeking three other men who escaped.

The midmorning gunfight, waged in the parking lot of the Great Western Bank, illustrates the growing dangers as banks seek more firepower to protect their cash. Last March, Michael McClellan, a 15-year veteran of the Long Beach Police Department working as a security guard, was killed during an attempted bank robbery in Orange County.

Security industry officials say recent shootings at Los Angeles-area banks have created more demand on the part of financial institutions for armed security guards, especially retired or off-duty peace officers, considered among the best guards money can buy.

Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Dennis Zine, vice president of the Police Protective League, said hundreds of former or off-duty police officers work as armed security guards to supplement their income.

Zine said he has worked as a security guard for the Los Angeles Coliseum for several years. Before that, he worked as a bodyguard for recording artists and security guard at movie sets.

“It’s a good way for us to get a little extra money to pay our bills,” he said.

But the hiring practice by banks is creating worries that gun battles at neighborhood branches may become more common.

“When you use armed security guards, it’s a two-edged sword,” said Barry Bradley, a board member of the California Assn. of Licensed Security Agencies, Guards & Associates, a trade group.

Although the number of bank robberies is down, the incidents have become more violent, experts say.

Bradley said banks with armed security guards are more likely to have an armed confrontation than those that do not. Tuesday’s shootout illustrates the dilemma facing institutions that are a target for armed robbers, he said.

“These poor banks are damned if they do [hire armed security guards] and damned if they don’t,” he said.

On Tuesday, two security guards--a retired LAPD officer and a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy--confronted a group of men who had pulled up to the Great Western branch, put on ski masks and walked toward the bank, one of them holding a gun.

The guards shouted at them to stop and then fired their weapons, police said. Bullets struck and killed Reed, and injured the second man, who has not been identified by police. Police have not released the names of the two guards for fear they would become targets for retaliation.

The FBI has joined LAPD in investigating Tuesday’s attempted robbery.

According to court records, in October 1992 Reed--while still a minor--was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder. In December of that year he pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and was sentenced to two years in the California Youth Authority.

The gun battle Tuesday raised the specter of the North Hollywood shootout seven months ago, in which two AK-47 toting robbers wearing body armor blasted their way out of a Bank of America branch before being shot and killed.

It also reflects some of the reasons behind the rush to find highly qualified security guards.

Industry experts say that about 10% of all security guards in California are former or off-duty police officers.

LAPD spokesman Mike Partain said that peace officers honorably discharged from state law enforcement agencies are allowed to carry concealed firearms. That privilege is renewed every five years, he said.

Bud Figliola, a bank security consultant, said more of his clients have expressed interest in armed security guards since the North Hollywood shootout. But he said he rarely advises using them.

“Armed, plain-clothes guards are very good after a robbery starts, but they do very little or nothing for prevention,” he said. “Uniformed security guards decrease the possibility that a robbery will take place in the first place.”

Figliola said robbers who see uniformed security guards are more likely to move on to another bank. In addition to the two undercover security guards who foiled the robbery attempt, Great Western Bank spokesman Tim McGarry said at least one unarmed, uniformed guard was inside the bank.

The two undercover guards worked for Investigative and Protective Services of America, an Oakland-based firm that hires retired police officers.

Michael Stugrin, vice president of the Encino-based Pinkerton Security & Investigation Services, said such guards are prized in the security industry because of their high level of training.

“We usually use them for high-profile events like the Academy Awards, executive protection and to guard financial institutions,” Stugrin said.

“The conventional lobby officer armed or unarmed is not prepared to deal with a major assault like [Tuesday’s attempted robbery],” he said.

John Nickols, chief of the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, a security guard licensing agency, said there are 166,000 guards in California. Of those, 24,000 are licensed to carry exposed weapons, but that figure does not include the number of security guards who carry concealed weapons.

All security guards in California must complete an open-book, four-hour exam that covers the basic restrictions and expectations of security guards, Nickols said.

FBI statistics indicate that bank robberies in the Southland declined by a third in the first six months of the year, to 573 robberies.

Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein and correspondent Michael Krikorian contributed to this story.