Police and cash in transit operators are working against ever more violent criminals – but despite investment, the CIT sector is running to stand still, it is feared.
From the June print edition of the magazine.
The Midlands and London, but above all the North West, are the hot-spots for attacks on cash in transit staff, the British Bankersโ Association security seminar heard in London in April. In 2004, while Scotland saw seven, Northern Ireland 46 and the south west six attacks, the North West suffered 298, the Midlands 114 and the South East 241. The UK total last year was 763, up from 697 the year before. The total stolen in 2004 was a little lower than 2003, however: £15.3m, compared with £16.3m. The projected number of attacks for 2005 is slightly up on 2004.
Shot and dragged
A CIT company speaker played CCTV footage with audio of some robberies. At a petrol forecourt, a CIT courier was shot even before the robbers demanded money. As the man in the CIT vehicle called for police and ambulance, the in-vehicle CCTV showed how the shot man was dragged across the forecourt. The banking audience heard of a robbery in Manchester when a guard was made to kneel in front of the CIT vehicle and a gang of four threatened to behead the guard, unless the man in the vehicle passed out money; he did so. After attacks on consecutive days in the city, at the end of March there simply were not enough CIT staff to replenish Manchester cash machines, which ran out of cash.
Industry investment
Cash in transit suppliers have brought in vehicles with biometric access, which cost up to £75,000 each; RFID controls on the cash transfer unit combat duress attacks; on-board CCTV gives evidence of attacks; and companies are using the Smartwater product to help identify attackers. Spending on security however brings the risk of displacing attacks elsewhere – to pavements; or duress attacks, whereby a guard outside the vehicle is threatened with a gun and the man inside the CIT vehicle made to hand over cash. The CIT companies have looked at a โdrive-awayโ policy which the unions will not accept – it being hard for staff to leave a colleague with a machete at his head.
Pay rising
CIT staff pay is rising, from about £6 an hour to more than £8, the event heard. This is not only because of SIA licences next year, but the Working Time Directive; many CIT vehicles have tachographs, so the WTD and the 48-hour week maximum is coming into the sector. CIT companies are trying to bring in โnew operating proceduresโ whereby there are fewer staff doing CIT or cash machine deliveries. The thinking is that if there is no member of staff left in the van, money cannot be handed over to criminals under duress.
Dye and smoke
There are possible health and safety issues with smoke and โpyrotechnicโ products that fill a room with smoke. Hence a move towards dye products that stain stolen money. However, this is not an ultimate solution. Across the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland, stained notes are in circulation. Banks ought to refuse to honour stained notes, because they are probably stolen; and the CIT company has already paid the bank in such cases. Indeed, in Northern Ireland the authorities may seek to prosecute those who accept stained banknotes, under proceeds of crime laws. As for body armour; it has had a mixed reception from CIT staff, but the event heard that the time may come when CIT staff on the street are required to wear body armour. For now, there is the risk of legal action – and a CIT company is being sued – where an employee may request body armour, but does not get it and is later shot.
Up the agenda
CIT crime has to go up the agenda of police and politicians, the event heard. A Government reply to a question in the Commons showed that crime statistics cannot be broken down enough to treat CIT cases separately. While the Flying Squad was praised, outside the Metropolitan Police area, detection and conviction rates for cash in transit crime are low. Banks can do more: why do CIT couriers so often have to queue with the public in the banking hall? and banks should invest in air-locks and other target-hardening work such as secure rooms and locking bars for ATMs. And working CCTV – it is extraordinary, the event was told, how often, after an attack, that a CCTV system was not working.
Who pays?
The BSIA and its CIT section has spoken to senior police officers, whose reaction is: how much will more police resource cost, and who will pay? Yes, street crime is a priority for police, and a target; yet a £100,000 CIT robbery counts as one crime … the same as the theft of a mobile โphone.
Parking restrictions
The speaker did praise the job that the police do, with the resources they have. Some councils do not help with โridiculousโ parking restrictions, banning CIT vans from town centre pedestrian zones and requiring staff to walk perhaps 150 yards to a bank. In Worcester the BSIA (based, ironically, in Worcester) has lobbied the local council to overturn such a ban. p
The British Bankersโ Association has a seminar on cyber-security for financial institutions, in London on June 16. And David Lennox, director of the BBAโs fraud prevention and intelligence unit, is chairing a morning seminar on identity fraud in the financial services sector, in central London on May 12. Visit www.bba.org.uk
Ram raids are on the rise
Traditional robbery targets – banks and building societies – have seen big falls in raids. Other โtraditionalโ targets such as post offices, jewellers and betting offices, have seen falls too. Not so cash in transit, and ram raids on ATMs, a police speaker reported. Tiger kidnaps too are on the rise – whereby a bank manager say and his family are held hostage so that the criminals force the employee to open the bank. The recent Northern Bank raid in Belfast may spark copy-cats, it is feared. Last year saw 382 physical attacks – such as ram raids – on cash machines. Typically, a JCB or a 4×4 is rammed into an ATM, which may be a stand-alone machine in a convenience store or club. Industrial tools may be used to break into an ATM. Hot-spots for such ram-raids are Gloucestershire, Kent, Thames Valley and Strathclyde, the event heard. What of the future of crime against cash machines? Expect more of the same – gangs of three or four eastern Europeans โskimmingโ card details, for use overseas. Or, the gangs are jamming machines, and then robbing the custodian when he arrives to check. Perhaps banking staff could check ATMs especially out of hours for anything suspicious, such as attachments to machines, the event heard. There is scope for covert CCTV to catch skimmers, too. Chip and PIn cards will combat skimming; but criminals are organised and innovative – so expect to see a fake stand-alone ATM there solely for fraudsters to gather card details.
