Remarks of Michael P. Smith, President, New York Bankers Association Before the New York City Council Committee on Public Safety October 14, 2003

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee.  My name is Michael P. Smith, President of the New York Bankers Association.  The Association is comprised of independent, community, regional and money center commercial banks throughout New York State with approximately 220,000 employees.

The safety of customers and employees of banks throughout the City of New York is a top priority of our industry. 

Today, banking is contributing a much-needed boost to the City and State's economy through new entrants in the marketplace and the attendant building of many new branches in neighborhoods throughout the City.  The many legislative reforms of the last twenty years have made this growth possible and with them have come increased competition, innovation and consumer benefits.

It is therefore unfortunate that these positive developments are being overshadowed by the recent increase in bank robberies. However, we welcome the opportunity to discuss banking's response.  When Police Commissioner Kelly announced in January of this year that we were seeing a dramatic increase in robberies in the City, we immediately responded.  We pledged our cooperation.  We formed a special task force of security officers, augmenting committees and liaisons that had already been in existence. 

We urged all of our City members to join the NYPD APPL* system. This system allows for immediate communication between law enforcement and banks when a crime has occurred.  We are pleased that all our City members, to the best of our knowledge, are now on the APPL system.  And many of our members have worked with APPL on training and enhanced security at their branches. We met on a number of occasions with Commissioner Kelly and his staff and shared a list of security practices (Best Practices: Exhibit A) that are widely used in the industry.  We also stressed that this list was not exclusive as technological advances, as well as a more complete determination of the full profile of the robberies and the perpetrators may yield additional or alternative practices over time. 

In May, we announced our commitment to work with NYPD and shared with our membership a list of practices and programs we already employ or plan to implement in the months ahead.  We are pleased that these efforts, combined with the fine work of the NYPD, has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of robberies over the past ten weeks.  While we hope that this trend continues, we, in fact continue to strengthen our efforts.  We have just endorsed a partnership with Crimestoppers in the City and are working on a program with the goal to elevate technology capabilities to a point that we will be able to transmit pictures across the APPL system instantaneously.  This effort is particularly important with the type of notepasser robbery that we have identified in our research.  It is on the agenda of our task force in the coming weeks.  We plan to work hand in hand with NYPD and the City on this initiative.

We have tracked the robberies over the past year and they are displayed in the graph on Exhibit B.  We also surveyed (Exhibit C) the member banks of our task force as to the type of robberies and the use of security practices in place.  You will see that the predominant type of robbery is note passing and unarmed robbery.  You will also note that close to ninety percent of the robberies occurred at sites that had bulletproof glass partitions similar to those in the bill, which are commonly called “bandit barriers.”  We strongly believe that the best deterrence for this type of robbery is vigilant surveillance, effective communication (since the robbers are often striking multiple sites of different banks) and the reaffirmation and strengthening of current criminal robbery statutes.  We would therefore support a resolution by you calling for a specific bank robbery statute in New York State.  Bank robbery is a serious crime.  It causes trauma for all people in the branch; it is an attack against commerce and finance and the citizens in the neighborhood, including seniors, who rely on the branches.  Five states have recognized this fact and passed tough new laws that identify bank robbery as a specific crime.  Four of these laws do not distinguish between armed and unarmed robbery.   Several additional states have introduced similar legislation.

We would urge that you not mandate any specific security requirements such as that contained in Introduced Bill 442. We believe that the industry should have the flexibility to adopt the systems and equipment that it feels will best secure its facilities and protect its customers and employees.  In most cases, law enforcement and the industry are in full agreement.  Where there are differences, we urge that the parties meet to discuss new techniques.  As to bandit barriers, there has been no evidence of deterrence in this particular case and mandates will deflect resources away from more effective approaches.   We asked the American Bankers Association (ABA) to submit a statement (Exhibit D) as to their opinion on this piece of legislation.  The ABA favors prevention methods that are varied, depending on the specific characteristics of each bank. We believe that the banking industry’s partnership with law enforcement is working.  We are beginning to see the positive effects of this effort. And we believe that this effort should be expanded.  We would urge that you defer mandates of specific, one-size-fits-all security requirements, except to adopt the strong message that bank robbery is a serious crime, armed or unarmed, and that there will be serious consequences for those who attempt this crime.

Be assured that we will continue to work in cooperation with Commissioner Kelly, the NYPD, the City, you, Mr. Chairman, and the members of this Committee and with other legislators and regulators, to ensure that this initial success has long-term results.  We will continue to be responsible and responsive corporate citizens in the City of New York.  And we will continue to make the safety and security of our customers and employees our top priority.

*Note: APPL is the Area Police Private Security Liaison, a New York City Police Department outreach program of the Crime Prevention Unit that works with businesses on a wide range of security issues.

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