Eastman, Ga.-based Charles Williams trains bank executives on best practices in physical security. While it’s his vocation, Williams admits that initially, his career wasn’t planned.

“I was working in a community bank when I got the responsibility of getting the bank compliant with FDIC regulations,” he recalls. “In those days, banks had a black and white film camera that would come to life with raucous clicking only when tested—or in the case of that rare event—an actual robbery.”

Williams, whose website can be found at www.charleswilliamslive.com, jokes that he was surprised to see a series of photos of his predecessor on the security detail. “He was a handsome young devil in those years after World War II, who, over a series of annual photos, became a crotchety old bast—d,” he says.“These spot tests of the camera sat in a file, and that constituted the security program.”

Williams wanted to take a more active role. And so he looked up the regulations and, over time, developed a program that mingled common sense with emerging technologies—and ample training.

These days during his regularly scheduled classes on security, or in his evaluation of new branch builds or renovations, Williams first advises staying alert. “If you’ve never experienced a robbery, you tend to think you never will,” he says. “Having that mindset can get you in trouble. And, while it’s rare, robbery does happen.” Williams spoke with ABABJ about his approach and notions of physical security.

What do you see banks doing wrong? Are there common mistakes?
I see banks that are over protected, with video cameras covering activity from every conceivable angle, and I see banks that still operate with a single black and white camera. Balance would be a good thing. The idea is to signal strength and control, but not to go overboard. 

But that isn’t the biggest concern. Mostly what I see are issues of complacency. A hedge, for example, that used to be knee high that’s now tall enough to hide a pig and three fat men blocking a front view of the bank.

Or a routine lock-up or check-in of the bank at night without a police officer on the premises to protect the bank officer doing the checking.

Or walking from the branch down to the standalone ATM a half block a way with cash in a Piggly Wiggly grocery bag.

 

All are routine actions. When you get out of a habitual mindset and really think about them, and think about the risk of doing them over time, you obviously see the exposures.

 

But talk to a teller who’s experienced a robbery and—even if it’s 20 years ago—I’ll bet that teller can recount every detail of what happened. If you’ve been robbed at gun point you never forget it. You’re scared wide awake.

I admit, I tend to think of robberies as a thing of the past, what, with all the video surveillance and electronic locks.
No ma’am. They are sporadic but they are still a reality. Unfortunately, robberies are still holding strong in the South.  You have professional robbers—they want to be in and out in less than two minutes. Then, you have your drug addicts or disturbed people or amateurs who get overwhelmed with the financial obligations in their life and just snap. It’s that latter group that can be especially unpredictable. If you have a crack head who is nervous as a cat and you don’t handle things right, it could go bad very quickly. Unfortunately, many of those amateur crooks don’t understand that there are automatic locks on vaults and similar kinds of controls in the environment.

What do you advise bank employees to do if someone pulls a gun?
Well, as they should be shown on a training DVD, bank employees should listen to the perpetrator, try to notice details of appearance for later work with police, but stay calm and quiet and do as they are told. Don’t try to play the hero. No tackling or arguing with the person. Just get the thieves out of there, then call the police. Some tellers are shown where to hit alarms, which is fine, as long as you’re not going to stir up a racket and the police know to act quickly, rather than to simply call the bank and ask if anything’s wrong.

I like what you have to say about awareness. What about office space, keeping files locked up and making it difficult for a non-authorized person to grab information, even from dumpsters?
Certainly that’s important, but most banks are good with their assets, including documents that they are working with or done with. Banks have an operations protocol called a “dual method of control” which means that at least two people have to be involved in the opening of a vault or the monitoring of office opening and closing procedures. So in many senses, they are covered. Now, you don’t want a fortress, you want a customer-friendly community bank. But again, you want to be protected during business hours just the way you are during the beginning and end of the day if you follow those procedures. The most important thing is doing what’s reasonable. The bank employee needs to be able to do their job yet also pick up on the unusual. If somebody comes in wearing a trench coat and seems off and it’s nearly 90 degrees—that might be indicative of something.  There has to be a judgment call.

You train in a classroom setting. What else do you recommend?
First, I always tell senior management to do what they can afford to do. Treat the employees like the people they are—that middle-aged woman is somebody’s Aunt or Mother. That young college student is somebody’s child. Really think about what steps can protect staff and your customers. And get friendly with your police department. They can’t always be hanging out at Dunkin Donuts.

As for training, videos can be effective. What I do like about the classroom is that the way I approach it, I encourage students to think for themselves. That wakes them up. For instance, we do this exercise where we have partners face each other and query one another about their lives. They do this for a few minutes—you know, “are you married, how many children do you have, wear did you get that great handbag, I love your shoes,” and so on. Then I have them face away from each other. You’d be amazed at how many people can’t describe a person they’ve just been facing. But then again, it’s not that surprising, because they were told to interview the person so they are concentrating on the answers being given. Likewise, a teller is going about her business or, in the case of a robbery, operating under extreme pressure, so it will be a challenge to stay observant.

I guess people have preconceived notions about bank robbers.
I tell my classes, bank robbers don’t look like the stereotypes you see in movies. They can look like anybody. Likewise, I bring in a variety of guns, something like 30 different pieces, which have been used in actual robberies. Most people haven’t seen guns. They get exposure to weapons and a mindset that is new to them.

Now, there are professional criminals who will case a branch until they know the routines and the layout better than most of the employees, that’s what employees can be up against. On the other hand, amateurs can do some pretty outrageous things. There was one guy who dressed in a Batman costume and robbed the bank, then he ran down the road toward a pond or something and dumped the cash, he stripped out of the costume and dove in naked. Crazy, some of the things you hear about.

You seem to love your job.
I do. I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I feel like, the training I do gives people information that can save lives and keep the bank safe. BJ

 

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