Bank Robbers and Hats

The picture on the right here is a bank robber who robbed the south branch of Cullman Savings Bank just before 2:00 PM yesterday. A note was presented to the teller and an undisclosed amount of money was stolen from the bank in the robbery.

What you see here is extremely common for bank robbers, that being that the suspect is wearing a hat. This is especially true for silent robberies where a note is used as opposed to a strong-arm armed robbery.

I have not seen the photo image of the robber at the teller window which may be more disguised since he is wearing a hat during the robbery. The image shown here is an excellent photo which is not always the case. Video camera placements behind the teller line typically have to be placed higher due to structural logistics. This higher camera placement makes it more difficult to capture a good facial image when a person is wearing a hat at a teller window.

All of these security issues are exactly why we must ask members and visitors to our teller lines to remove their hats as part of the transaction. Several years ago a police investigator questioned why we were allowing people to wear hats at the teller line since it makes it more difficult to secure good evidence when a crime is committed. (We had just been robbed ourselves by a person wearing a hat). Keep in mind that not all crimes are robberies. They can be stolen checks, counterfeit checks, identity theft, or any transaction questioned at a later time.

We are not trying to be difficult in asking people to remove their hats and sunglasses when coming to our teller lines. We are trying to secure the assets of our member's money. Keep in mind that our drive thru's are always available for transactions if removing a hat is too much of a burden.

Improper Conduct Towards Employees

Below is a standard notice that is sent out or given from time to time to members regarding interactions with our employees. Our employees work in a public setting and every now and then we have some individuals who would like to pursue contact with our employees outside of the credit union. Sometimes it is just a case of mistaken motives, sometimes it is not. In the end though we need to be able to provide a workplace that is free from unwanted advances. 

Here is the notice;

We thank you for your membership with North Alabama Educators Credit Union. Please understand that our employees are here to provide friendly member service to all of our members in the course of their work transactions. Sometimes, members mistake that friendliness as an opening to request personal employee information or seek contact with our employees outside of the credit union. Please do not approach our employees regarding a request for personal contact information, social media requests, or contact outside of the credit union. We instruct all of our employees to reply with a simple “no thank you” which should be more than enough to prevent continued requests. Our employees are here to provide friendly member service and nothing else. Please refrain from any comments or activity that could be deemed as unwanted advances towards our employees. As an employer, I am responsible for maintaining a workplace that is free of unwanted advances. I thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

The notice along with a phone call at times is usually all that is needed to rectify any ongoing issues. As an employer, our primary focus must be upon our employees in maintaining the best workplace environment. Most members understand this so we rarely have problem issues to begin with.