Another of my ideas, anyone know if this has been tried before:
A chamber is built underground in front of the bank teller or party store checkout area. Someone pulls a gun demanding money, clerk pushes a button and the floor opens up under the robber and he/she falls into a holding cell while bullet proof glass slides over the opening holding the person secure until police arrive.
or
Bullet proof glass rises from the floor (very quickly) at the push of a button enclosing the would be robber in an above ground cage until police arrive.
No, I haven't figured out the myrid logistical problems with a setup like this, it is only a rough idea of what might be possible.
If the robber has a chance of getting injured in anyway, your idea would not be feasible on a legal standpoint. It's sad to say but, in today's world, the robber has more rights than his innocent victims have. It also seems that an innocent victim must pay to enforce their rights, while a criminal gets theirs pro bono.
Yeah, they would probably get off on something like holding them against their will before their Miranda rights are read of getting nicked or scratched falling into the cage.
I still think it is a interesting concept that is probably doable from a technical standpoint. Probably not feasable for all the legal impliactions involved.
I was in Montreal, Quebec, Canada recently and they have the bank built with a secure money room inside the teller area. All monies are inside the money room and all transactions of monies either deposited or removed must be brought to the money room for completion. The teller in effect, does not hold any cash in his/her drawer in the area that is accessable by the public. If someone tries to rob the place, the money room barriers drop in front of the transaction window. (I believe it was bullet proof glass). The rest of the money room is built similar to a safe.
Norm Mugford
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The first hurdle you'd have to overcome would be code approval. No fire marshal would allow you to build an automated man trap in a public facility because it could hinder an innocent person's escape in the event of a fire.
If you could ever get the concept past the inspector, I doubt you'd have much trouble for holding an armed robber until the police arrive. Stores can legally hold suspected shoplifters for the police without impunity in most states so holding an armed robber shouldn't be a problem.
Mechanical problems would also need to be resolved. For example, how would one determine from where the cage should rise? You'd have to build some sort of lanes in front of the tellers to make certain the would-be thief is standing precisely where you wanted him.
In the event of a false alarm, you would also have the probability of a lawsuit from an innocent customer who was trapped or worse, struck by the rising or falling cage.
It might be easier to accomplish this by building a man trap into the exit. If you were to allow only enough room for one person at a time to pass through a turnstile, perhaps you could lock the turnstile with the perp inside. One problem with that arrangement is that there might be more than one robber involved. If you only trap the first one, you then have a very angry, armed accomplice inside the bank. Trap only the second one and the first guy gets away.
There's probably a way to accomplish this though you'll have obstacles to overcome. I've thought about a similar idea but I don't have the engineering skills to bring it to fore.
Mechanical problems would also need to be resolved. For example, how would one determine from where the cage should rise? You'd have to build some sort of lanes in front of the tellers to make certain the would-be thief is standing precisely where you wanted him.
Most robbers would probably be standing right at the teller window, making it big enough probably woudn't be a problem. There is the possibility that the robber could get struck by the fast rising glass.
In the event of a false alarm, you would also have the probability of a lawsuit from an innocent customer who was trapped or worse, struck by the rising or falling cage.
Most banks have people standing far back from the teller window waiting their turn so they wouldn't be trapped along with the robber in the cage. Hopefully, anyway they wouldn't.
It is all just a concept, I'm not really seriously going to pursue this, I just thought I would throw the idea out there to see what people thought.
I keep reading about bank robberies and I got to wondering why don't they try something different to deal with the situation. These are just some things I came up with.
If he pulls a gun and demands money, striking him with the rising glass cage shouldn't be an issue. However, if Aunt Ida is standing there depositing her social security check and the teller accidentally hits the button, her lawyer will be ready for you. :^)
That's true but you'd probably want to implement your system in such a way that two or more people standing together at the teller would not be a problem.
Understood. As I mentioned earlier, I've thought about this sort of thing and the kinds of problems that one would need to overcome. It's an interesting idea. Bob Campbell works with physical as well as electronic security. Now that he's back in the frozen North, perhaps he may have some ideas on the subject.
Ever seen the movie Fifth Element (campy Bruce Willis movie)? Remember when the henchman bangs on the glass and guns descend while a loud voice gives instructions. Meanwhile the teller has descended to safety. There is your system.
Instead of a panic button, I have always liked the "last dollar" device. Same idea here.
But in the end, no matter what kind of system you design, someone will beat it, break it, sue the bank, sue you, and get rich off your brilliant plan. So why try?
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