SafeAlert - December 1998

Morning Glory Robberies

"Morning Glory Robberies" are attempts by criminals to enter a bank's premises prior to the official opening of the bank. The object is to take the bank employees hostage as they come in for work in hope of gaining access to the vault cash. This is facilitated by the fact that the bank is still not officially open for business and no customers are present.

In anticipation of a large Y2K customer cash demand, most, if not all banks, are establishing significant vault cash reserves. This has been widely reported in the media and the criminal element is certainly aware of this.

"Morning Glory Robbers" will commonly target a community bank or a branch office because of their limited number of employees. A bank's greatest protection against this threat is to have a sound opening procedure in place.

We strongly recommend that you immediately review your opening procedures at all of your offices to insure that there are no weaknesses. Moreover, it is extremely important that the opening procedure be communicated to all of your employees and that it is consistently followed. The best procedures and controls are of little value if the employees are unaware of them or do not follow them.

We wish you a safe and successful New Year.

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