imported post
Each financial institution sets its own robbery response guidelines. With that said, it is standard procedure to isolate the victim employee with one other emplyoee and those two employeesdon't talk to anyone (or each other, ideally) until the police arrive. Customers in the institution at the time are asked to sit in a pre-determined location in the branch and fill out a fairly standardized form with pictures, etc to help them recall details. There even are pictures of various guns to help those with little familarity with guns identify the general type of firearm (if there was one). Customers are asked not to talk to each other and are not left unattended during this process. Everyone is asked not to leave, and the doors are immediately locked after the robbery. If someone insists on leaving, you must let them go (I do not know of a single case where anyone has insisted on leaving, although obviously if someone were to leave thatwould make themworthy of being "checked out". If someone were to leave, there would be many pictures of them from inside the branch.)
What is always best (statistically) is for the robber to enter, get money without a scene, leave quickly (and before the police arrive) and then becaught shortly thereafter. This is the typicaly bank robbery, in fact. When I say "best", I am not referring to concepts of justice, etc. Best = least chance of ANYONE being hurt.Ilove firearms and the 2nd amendment, but I cringe slightly sometimes when I have read posts on this board discussing interacting with a robber while armed in a financial institution.
I have read posts on this board discussing how to respond if you are in a branch and armed - the answer is DO NOTHING except get a great look at the robber and help the confused or panicked people (often including the elderly and children) stay calm afterwards (FUN FACT: most people in a branch do not know it has been robbed until after the robber exits and a manager or head teller makes the announcement!) If you respect hundreds of case studies and human life, the only time a customer should pull a firearm on anrobber is if someone's life is at stake and perhaps in certain "hostage" situations, which are exceedingly rare (except in the movies). Otherwise, be part of an environment that is condusive to the robber getting AWAY quickly. One of the very most dangerous things in a robbery is if the robber accidently gets "stuck" in the branch for any reason. Then the chance of an innocent person being injured goes way up (it is far less than 1% otherwise). Stay safe!