Policy Text
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Bank Robbery
The purpose of this order is to outline a procedure for respond ing to silent bank or credit
union robbery calls. I. General Procedure
A. When the Sheriff's Communicati on Center is alerted to a sile nt bank robbery
alarm, the dispatcher will voic e dispatch the alarm, and immedi ately relay the
information to the FBI and other outside agencies.
B. Officers shall not enter a bank after a silent alarm has bee n activated until
they feel it is safe to do so. This is to ensure against a hos tage situation
and to safeguard the officer's and citizens' safety.
C. Plain clothes officers shall act in accordance with this dir ective when
responding to silent bank alarms and advise Communications and Patrol units
that they are responding.
D. Communications will ascertai n and advise Patrol units as to how many FBI
units are responding to the alar m and broadcast their arrival.
II. Response Procedure
A. Available units shall either respond to the bank or to a poi nt that monitors exit
from the bank vicinity.
B. If the Communications Center receives contact from the bank or alarm
company that the alarm is in e rror, the dispatcher will send th e closest unit for
verification cancel all other units and advise outside agencies .
C. If the Communications Center is not contacted by responsible parties or the
alarm is confirmed to be valid, o fficers shall position themsel ves in locations
near the bank to:
1. Observe the bank while not being observed themselves.
2. Apprehend the suspect(s) outside the business.
D. Once the units have arrived, a supervisor or the Designated Incident
Coordinator shall contact the Co mmunications Bureau for any upd ated
information, which may include:
Field Services 2 of 2 7/15 (REV 9/03)
1. If the suspects are still in the bank.
a. Description of the suspects and how many.
b. Type of weapons.
2. If the suspects have left the bank.
a. Time lapse.
b. Description of the suspects.
c. Vehicle description an d direction of travel.
d. Was an Electronic Tracking Device taken?
3. Advise the outside offi cers of the situation.
III. FBI Coordination
A. Sheriff's Officers shall broadc ast a description and provide full Patrol
response upon receipt of info rmation regarding confirmed bank r obberies.
B. Forensic support through Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) wil l be requested
by Patrol Officers.
C. If an ETS device is taken dur ing a robbery that occurs in Sh eriff's Department
jurisdiction, Sheriff's Office rs will coordinate all agencies r esponding to the
recovery.
D. If a suspect is located or det ained by Sheriff's Officers, t he FBI shall be
requested to respond and assi st with the apprehension.
E. A Sheriff's Detective shall be requested to assist the FBI o n all robberies
except those which oc cur on a Saturday.
IV. Written Reports
A. Sheriff's Officers shall co mplete a Crime Report and do prel iminary
interviews.
B. FBI officers shall be responsib le for the full investigation .