NCJ Number
167907
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 65 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1996) Pages: 16-20
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
In Suffolk County, N.Y., police investigators developed and implemented an innovative community policing program that provides the employees of financial institutions with formal crime awareness training.
Abstract
In January 1990 detectives finalized the formal plan for the 1-day training seminar. The course consists of seven 1-hour blocks of instruction. In the first hour, the instructor encourages employees to obey current bank policy and follow Suffolk County Police Department recommendations regarding safe and proper opening and closing procedures. In this hour the instructor also reinforces the goal of bank robbery prevention, explains the concept of target hardening, tests employees' powers of observation, and explains methods to increase these skills. The second hour of instruction focuses on employee adherence to current bank policy and police recommendations regarding conduct during a robbery, with emphasis on employee and customer safety. In the third hour the instructor explains techniques for reducing injury due to violence or emotional trauma. Instruction in the fourth hour teaches participants about the police response policies, followed by an hour of instruction on the need for certain procedures performed by detectives at the crime scene. The sixth hour addresses each phase of the judicial process in which a victim or witness may become involved. A police stress counselor presents the final hour of instruction. It focuses on the causes, effects, and treatment of Critical Incident Stress Syndrome. Despite a steady increase in bank robberies nationwide, the number of bank robberies in the Long Island metropolitan area has leveled off since the inception of the training program.