Mongo

Well what a day.....about 1 hour ago Union Bank of California in Chula Vista was robbed by a hispanic gentleman in his early 30s. Though i didn't get him as my customer He was at the window right next to me. I had just finished talking to the police and have submitted my description. THe good news is the cash he took had a dye-pack and tear gas explosive set to go off 1 minute after activation (taking it off our sensor in our drawer)
Good thing was that nobody was hurt and that his firearm was hidden in a laptop bag...

I hope they catch this guy.......gives me somethin to tell my grand kids later on that this is the second time this has happened in my life.

Bryans951

Sounds like your day was a lot more exiciting than mine. Glad that nobody was hurt.

89magic98

Glad that noone was hurt.

Wouldn't it be dangerous to put a tear gas cannister with the money? What if he was driving away, and crashed into someone else?

I always wondered about those dye packs. They assume that the robber would not be angry enough to come back in there (once the money was destroyed) and get violent. Or do you lock yourselves inside afterwards just in case?

You should relax, have a beer, maybe take a sick day tomorrow.

Bryans951

89magic98,
that avatar freaken me out.

jabbadeznuts

!!!!!!!!!!

WHOA!! I hope they catch that bastard.

SANDOVAL

how does that work wouldn't he see the dye packs?

Jonas Goldsmith

Carefull out there andy... still need that second porsche at the tuesday night meets...

Ag951

How stupid do you have to be to think sticking up a bank is a good money-making idea? The guards, cameras, and hidden alarm buttons make it difficult to get away. The dye packs make the money worthless if you do. And if you do get away with cash, the drawer probably has less than $1000 in it.

ELLSSUU

Hardly, let's just say I'm established in a local large bank. I've never seen a teller with just a $1,000 in their drawer. It's more typical that they have b/t $10,000 and $25,000.

The dye pack is rather well hidden. Remember banks have done this for a long time. I have seen teller's set it off on themselves. Everything that comes into contact with this stuff is ruined, ask me how I know. It smells terrible and will make your eyes water relentlessly. As for the other money that comes into contact, it has to be sent to the Federal Reserve for redemption and thus packed in special ways for them to count it without contaminating anything else.

As for robberies, the lobby of our building gets robbed 2-3 times a year. They catch the thieves about 2 out of 3 times. The third guy usually gets brazen and robs again and ends up getting caught.

The robbers are USUALLY not violent and many times look exactly like your everyday customer. Nothing like the movies. The guys that get the bank for the real money are counterfeiting checks. Banks are working hard to learn how to fight this epidemic.

Sorry to hear that you were involved but I'm glad that everything worked out okay. Remember what they told you in teller training......Money can be replaced, you can't (unless you're fired).

IceShark

When I was in school I worked at a bank as an evening teller in the drive-up. One night this dirt bag shows up and tapes a package to the bullet proof glass, says its a bomb and give him all my money. I happened to have about 50 grand since I was the head drive-up teller and basically was the cash bank for all the other tellers.

I just pressed the alarm, turned around and ran like hell.

Glad your guy didn't go crazy with his gun.

ELLSSUU

Iceshark, something happened similar to your guy around here a few years ago but this guy used a pinata (?spelling, the thing that kids beat blindfolded to get to the candy).

Tyler951

I am definitely interested in hearing about how the guy used a pinata. The spelling is fine just needs accent marks somewhere. I'll prob find out in beginning spanish next semester.

JimV8

Glad you are OK, the threat of violence against you does have an impact and you have my deapest and sincere sympathy. omeone commented on the usefulness of dyepacks and teargas cannisters. My 2 cents. Bank robbers are the stupidest of a stupid lot and countermeasures like dyes and teargas are the deterrent, since these people tend to be repeaters they get the message real personal like. The robbers get a real high doing a stickup and sex helps them after. Thats why street sexworkers are often canvassed by police to see who is spreading a lot of dough around. These people don't get any sympathy from me.

ELLSSUU

BTW, Eurospec most banks give you at least $200 for getting the dude to take the dyepack. Hope your bank has that policy.

Ag951

in a single drawer? It's been a few years since I've gone to a bank, but the stacks in those drawers didn't look too deep. Once when I needed ~$800 in cash, the teller had to go get the 8 $100 bills. Maybe I was just in a cheap bank (or a paranoid one).
If it's $10-25k though, that explains the motivation better. I'm glad my current bank doesn't have any branches (not that my Porsche addiction lets me keep any money in my account anyway).

Exactly. The dye pack is fairly common knowledge. So the guy has to expect that the teller would put one in there, which means his chances of getting away clean (no pun intended) are reduced. I still think only an idiot would consider the incredibly low success rate worth the risk.

What's in the lobby? Is that how bankers refer to the place with the tellers and the lines? What the rest of us call "the bank", since that's all we see.

I blame Leonardo DiCapprio.
What about safe crackers? Do they get much anymore? Or does modern security make that pretty much impossible?