# Why don't US banks have this robber protection? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039 "2001-02-11T16:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/21 "2001-02-12T11:12:35Z")
- - - Okay, how about, , , trap doors! Like into a dungeon! With chains and all! Like in front of the doors, so when he goes to leave, the teller presses a secret button and it’s down the hatch. Maybe with animals: lions and rats and stuff. Rabid dogs maybe. Also that would punish anybody digging an underground tunnel into the bank. So that’s two things for the price of one. Ha ha! Damn I’m good. - Actually, overall crime rate was a bit lower [last time I saw figures], but the incidence of particular types of crime are much different in Britain than in the US. Bank holdups may be much more common in Britain. -And in US big cities, they do have bulletproof glass everywhere. - MC ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/22 "2001-02-13T03:23:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by likearock \* > **What about a “small” explosive charge put in the robber’s bag with the money. They drive off bank property and KA-BOOM!! 🙂** Well, they do have “die packs”, which are bundles of bills containing a small explosive charge and a nodule of paint. When the robber leaves the bank with the die pack, a sensor in the pack similar to the anti-shoplifting tabs at your local music store sets off the charge, spraying paint all over the robber and his clothes. It’s pretty hard to act nonchalant when you’re bright blue or neon orange 😉 * * * Pete Long time RGMWer and ardent AOLer ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/23 "2001-02-13T04:25:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soul of the Machine \* > \*\*I’ve often wondered if there wouldn’t be a way to trap an exiting robber between the sets of lobby doors. Assume bullet-proof glass. > \*\* When I was in Milan Italy. The main entrance on the banks were two sets of double doors. The inside door would not open until the exterior door was closed and vice versa. I can see how that could be incorporated in to boxing a crook. Of course there is the hostage problem. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/24 "2001-02-13T05:58:08Z")
Osip, I too was in Milan and came across the entry system that you describe. In fact, down south had similar technology. However, I remember one time, a man with a limp walked up to the door and signaled to someone inside. Apparently the customer couldn’t bend his bad leg - maybe it was a prosthetic - and so the employee pushed a button so that both doors opened and the man could walk in with the greatest of ease. But now that I think of it, I guess this is more to keep a robber inside rather than keeping them outside. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckForbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@ChuckForbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChuckForbin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/25 "2001-02-13T22:59:55Z")
The solution is simple - Arm the tellers. Can you imagine six or seven elderly women with pistols drawing a bead on the guy’s head. Feel Lucky, Punk ? ---
**Author:** ![Dani\_Filth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dani\_Filth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dani_Filth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/26 "2001-02-14T09:15:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psiekier \* > \*\*Well, they do have “die packs”, which are bundles of bills containing a small explosive charge and a nodule of paint. When the robber leaves the bank with the die pack, a sensor in the pack similar to the anti-shoplifting tabs at your local music store sets off the charge, spraying paint all over the robber and his clothes. > > It’s pretty hard to act nonchalant when you’re bright blue or neon orange 😉 > > * * * > > Pete > Long time RGMWer and ardent AOLer \*\* \ An officer i met once (an FBI agent actually) told me about a bank robber they had been tracking. The tellers had used the old dye pack trick on him as well. So finally they figure out where he was holed up (in a hotel IIRC) and decided to pay him a visit at 6am one morning. They busted in the room and the robber, naked and startled jumped out of bed with his hands up screaming “I DIDN’T DO IT!”. The feds didn’t believe him though, maybe because his entire groin area and most of his stomach was dyed bright purple from all the dye packs! :)\ -Dani ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/27 "2001-02-27T15:01:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Twentyeight \* > \*\*Why don’t we have those barriers here, especially since 99% of the bank robbers will be packing a gun? \*\* You may be [on to something](http://www.sptimes.com/News/022701/Pasco/Banker_s_message_to_r.shtml)… * * * Pete Long time RGMWer and all your base are belong to us!! ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039/28 "2001-02-27T15:27:43Z")
I don’t think the device described in the OP is particularly prevalent here, although I don’t live in London where I would imagine the greatest necessity arises to deploy them. I’ve noticed a few banks (particularly some of the ex-building societies) have moved away from the screen counters completely, and have no cash desk as such at all, but a chute system for both deposits and withdrawals of cash to a basement cash room. I assume they have some method of limiting the amount of cash which can be ‘requested’ but I’m not sure how. Presumably a real transaction must take place, but would a robber buy this? What would the teller tell the robber? Anyone? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-banks-have-this-robber-protection/54039.md?page=1)