Teaching bank workers how best to handle holdups is a routine and regular procedure, and it paid off Monday morning in Missoula.
“Everyone did well. Nobody was hurt. Everybody followed procedures,” said Gary Clark, president of the Missoula Federal Credit Union that was robbed in frightening fashion.
The unidentified man was tracked down in his pickup in Upper Miller Creek and wounded after reportedly firing shots at sheriff's deputies.
Clark said his credit union has regular robbery training, usually quarterly. It urges the basics - be vigilant, do what the thief says, notify authorities as fast as safely possible, and notice details.
On Monday morning, those details were quickly relayed to 9-1-1 dispatchers who received phone calls from employees inside the bank - including one woman who told the operator she was hiding under her desk.
“We had one of our people, while the guy was coming in the door, pushing the panic button,” Clark said. “She did the right thing. My staff is well-trained. They cordoned off everything that protected the crime scene.”
For good reason, banks and other keepers of money are reticent to talk about training tips.
“We never discuss our security or robbery procedures, including training, with anyone outside the bank,” Suzanne Loewen wrote in an e-mail to the Missoulian from First Interstate Bank in Missoula.
“I can't speak for all banks, but First National Bank has a strict procedure for situations like this,” said Noel Kulbeck, vice president of that Missoula bank. “Obviously I can't give it.”
Kulbeck said it's “pretty normal” for a bank to update robbery training on a regular basis, “just to keep it fresh in everyone's minds, especially in these times when these situations could be a little more common.”
Contrary to Montana's Wild West image, bank heists here are rare occurrences - just 31 in the 3 1/2-year period ending July 1, 2008. Compare that to 207 highway/road/alley robberies and 106 residence/home robberies.
The most recent bank robbery in the Missoula area was six weeks ago, when a man robbed Farmers State Bank in Lolo.
Numbers for the last half of 2008, when the economy hit the skids, aren't available. Based on the first six months of last year, Jimmy Steyee of the Montana Board of Crime Control said bank robberies in the state are slightly up since 2005. But they comprise only about 4 percent of the total robberies reported by Montana's non-tribal law enforcement agencies.
“It is difficult to trend the number ... because of the small number of them,” Steyee said in an e-mail.
“The ones in Montana are very few and far between,” agreed Juan Becerra, special agent in the FBI regional office in Salt Lake City.
Becerra said the FBI is actively involved in teaching bank employees how to deal with robberies, and its services are offered free of charge through local agents.
The general guides, he said, are “No. 1, to obey the commands of the robber. The money is insured. You're not losing any kind of money.”
Beyond that, try to notice and remember details - clothing, scars, marks, tattoos, and what the robber or robbers looked like, including as they leave the bank.
“That is the important part of it,” Becerra said. “Be a good witness and report what you saw.”
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Lisa wrote on Jan 14, 2009 12:57 AM: