Bank customers' safety vital
Reclining on the staircase was a young man apparently busy, making serious contact with some party somewhere, about which it was difficult for a passer-by to hazard a guess, let alone comprehend. Nonetheless, what struck one was the unencumbered freedom this guy had to do what he was doing in the place he was in. The staircase, on which he was straddled, barely leaving room for those going upstairs to squeeze their way through, was on the first floor on a five-story building constituting the main branch of one of the most renowned national private banks in the country. Close by, was a security guard who appeared fully confident that all was under control, at least judging by the way he immersed himself in the seat juxtaposed to the security cubicle located some meters off the staircase. The aura of business-as-usual could be felt everywhere.
Meanwhile, the young man continued with his conversation via possibly his latest acquisition -- the mobile phone. Unperturbed by the young man's presence, uncharacteristically positioned though he was, customers went up and down pursuing their affairs while tellers moved to and fro going about this and that chore. Apparently this seemed to be the way things go.
Yet lurking beneath the apparent calm and decorum was a serious underestimation of the powerful effect that man's latest handy gadget can create and also the opportunities that can be ruined depending on the use to which the owner wishes to put it to.
Unmoved by the activities of this young guy, was the man whose main, and possibly only, purpose in the building was to ensure security, which indeed he did if that meant ensuring that customers conducted their business within the building without any physical interruption whatsoever. It becomes another matter if security entails physical, emotional or any other prerequisites enabling one to not only conduct transactions in the bank but also to ensure that all ends well both within and without the building. In other words, if security means that, for instance, somebody wishing to withdraw some cash from the bank should be able to do so in an atmosphere free from any real or potential threat which could endanger the successful completion of the transaction whether within and outside the bank premises, then one would be stunned by the high level of insecurity that customers in such a bank are exposed to!
Couldn't a bandit avail of such a gaping hole in security to hatch out a plan to rob bank customers who have withdrawn money after they leave the bank? Apparently, the kind of security provided at such a bank seems only designed to ensure that if anything goes wrong, then it shouldn't happen within the bank, or if it is within the bank, it should occur only when the responsibility has been shifted to the customer, thus relieving the bank of all responsibility. Yet as everyone knows, the customer has no say as to what actually happens on the bank premises, this being the responsibility of the bank manager.
Perhaps it is high time that bank officials consider bank security from the customers' point of view, which involves safety both on the bank premises as well as outside the bank. The positioning of high profile security guards at the entrance definitely makes bank robbers think twice, but one really wonders whether some changes in the rules on how persons should behave inside and around a bank aren't in order so as to usher in a better sense of security for customers by not only emphasizing individual privacy, but also abiding by this to the letter!
MUYANJA ABA SSENYONGA
Yogyakarta