Don’t even think about it

Another gem from the good folks at the NYT Freakanomics blog:

“According to the FBI’s recently released second quarter Bank Crime statistics, bank robbers are most likely to rob a bank between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Friday…”

Which has us thinking about potential deterrents and wondering whether it would be effective to run digital messaging during this time slot, specifically pointing out the bank’s security apparatus (guards, cameras, alarm systems, etc.)?

The idea would be to unnerve or plant seeds of doubt in the minds of would-be robbers, much as store greeters are used in retail stores to thwart would-be shoplifters.

Of course, hardened professionals might not be swayed, but that’s not who we’re concerned with. According to the U.S. Department of Justice in its guide (PDF) on bank robberies:

“most bank robberies are committed by solitary, unarmed and undisguised offenders (and) can be considered the work of amateurs rather than professionals.”

Creative Commons photo credit: secretlondon123

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Digital Signage, Retail Banking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply