“We encourage them (to use the equipment), but that’s really up to them,” said FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas of Columbus. “You walk into a lot of banks nowadays and it’s almost like a coffee shop. There is a balancing act that they need to follow to make it both comfortable and safe.”
Two common devices in some regions are bullet-resistant vestibules, also called mantraps, and bullet-proof teller windows, or bandit barriers. Mantraps use a set of two locking, bullet-proof doors. Customers go through the first door and a metal detector before the second door is unlocked.
Mantraps made local headlines in January, when a teller at the National City branch at 1501 Troy St. locked a fleeing robber between the two doors.
“Every branch has security measures that are both seen and unseen,” said Chase Bank spokeswoman Nancy Norris. “I think in some cases (security) is becoming more visible.”
Norris said Chase uses bullet-proof enclosures very selectively, based on the history of robberies at branches and neighborhood crime levels.
Dayton police Lt. Larry Faulkner said bullet-proof teller windows haven’t caught on. “Customers want to have some personal interaction with the teller. If they didn’t, they’d go to the ATM.”
About the Author