NCJ Number
88957
Date Published
1981
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This film explains security procedures and planning that banks should follow to protect employees and customers from both kidnapping and bomb threat extortion attempts.
Abstract
The film visually recreates a series of actual extortion attempts. They involve a male manager who receives an extortion call stating the alleged hostage-taking of his wife, a loan officer at a savings and loan who comes face-to-face with an extortionist, a new accounts person who receives a telephone call that her husband has been kidnapped, and a female teller whose husband was kidnapped and brought back to the bank for the payoff. Each of these examples shows how an unprepared employee can become a perfect victim. The rest of the film reviews how to avoid becoming a victim of an extortionist and how to minimize risk to the institution's assets if one does become a victim. Two situations are used to illustrate proper listening and recording conversation techniques, involving another employee in the notification to the FBI, proper use of the Emergency Identification Card, and the need to initiate a search if there is a belief that the threat is real. These two examples also show the proper questions to ask an extortionist, how to initiate the call home to verify the status of the alleged victim, maintaining and using the Personal Profile form, and working with another employee to notify local police. The file emphasizes the most common extortion situations that a bank employee is likely to face. It points out that 60 percent of extortion attempts are aimed at employees at the middle or lower levels, rather than the high-management level. The film is accompanied by an instructor's guide.