Banks’ security concern has hit the dilemma of whether to go for intense record keeping exercise or to leave the security business to guards and equipment. Police’s request to banks for including intense record keeping exercise of people visiting the bank premises into routine affairs of bank is yet to become a part of their daily activity for the obvious reasons of staff crunch and fear of losing sight to customer service.
Even as police is pushing for greater monitoring of visitors, banks especially private sector banks are reluctantly following the instruction. Police’s directive has added burden to the shoulders of nationalised public sector banks, private banks though isolated bank branches have started complying with the order inviting ire of the customers.
It is another matter that the order of maintaining records provides the banks an opportunity to carry out aggressive marketing campaign by reaching out to people who submit their details.
“We have been asked to maintain record but how one can ascertain that the records provided are accurate and belong to the person who has provided that. Yet we are doing because this is the instruction in the name of security,” said an official of HDFC Bank.
Owing to the pros and cons of the directive from police, record keeping has not been adopted wholeheartedly at public sector banks even as security guards gave thumbs down to the police’s measure to enhance vigilance.
“We tried to adopt it but we have to remain more vigilant about people who try to enter with arms than people visiting bank for financial activities. Someone who would come with other intentions could be stopped if he is observed properly. Moreover, only those who are associated with bank enters premises not those who have nothing to do,” said a security guard of a nationalised bank at Kanke Road.
A vigilant guard is panacea of security concerns of all banks as almost every branch is yet to comply with the police’s plea and rely more on security guards posted at the entry point instead. In some cases a security guard is pressed into guiding a client about transaction activities such as locating various types of deposit receipts, accepting cheques and issuing receipts where as bank staffs are rarely made to pen down details of whoever comes to the branch.
Nonetheless, police officials have their own justifications for falling back on the strategy of record keeping which is also backed by incidents of heist in 2015. As many as seven incidents of bank dacoity have been registered with Jharkhand police in different parts of the state. Police’s justification for record keeping plea is based on the findings that heist takes place only after obtaining information about bank’s security ring and other details.
“Such cases (bank heist) take place after intense recce. We are now trying to prevent this (robbery). This acts as a tool for us if a problem arises. It also acts as a deterrent. We are trying that big banks maintain register and we will insist that in future as well,” said City SP Jaya Roy.
Roy added that a meeting of bank officials would be called for a meeting with local police in all sub-divisions to discuss security measures.