No hats, no hoods, no sunglasses or no service at banks

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

The what-not-to-wear policy bans outfits and items that mask customers' identities, a Florida bankers group says.

Richard Burnett | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 18, 2008

Florida's top bankers group rolled out a security dress code Thursday that, if adopted by the industry, would mean "hats off" for banking customers in the Sunshine State.

The what-not-to-wear policy would also prohibit sunglasses, caps and hoods -- anything that might obscure a person's identity, according to the Florida Bankers Association, the industry's statewide trade group.

Citing Florida's recent plague of bank robberies -- which increased 40 percent in 2007 -- the industry group touted its "No Hats, No Hoods, No Sunglasses" program as a deterrent that has worked in other states because potential robbers are more easily identified when their heads or faces are not covered.

"We know the 'No Hats' program can be effective, because we've looked at the facts and evaluated the numbers," said Rick Lee, president of the group and chief executive officer of Citizens Bank of Florida in Oviedo. "We believe we will see immediate results."

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-banks1808jan18,0,2684640.story

[LostinVA]

1. All good policies and nothing new

My bank in VA and NC had been doing it for almost a decade. It's a security policy that helps protect banking employees.

[jody]

2. If it's good enough for banks, other businesses may adopt the policy. n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Very smart policy.

[medeak]

4. Vegas casino "Big Dogs" has camera at locked front door

and if someone is wearing a hoodie they aren't allowed in.

edited for link:

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?s=7603494

[Gman]

5. It's impolite to wear a hat indoors

[BearSquirrel2]

28. Only if ...

Only if you're pious and uptite. If you can't think up a good reason why this is wrong, it's probably BS or antiquated.

[KansDem]

34. Oh, I don't know...I often wear a cap with my coat.

I would find taking off my hat and holding while transacting business at the teller's cage would be a little complicated. Now, if I sit down to discuss my account with a bank rep, then I take it off. I think practicality should dictate when and where a hat or cap comes off.

I also take it off when I'm introduced to someone, when I sit down at a table in a restaurant, and when a funeral or the American flag passes by.

The class of wearing a hat or cap is knowing when to take it off, something not understood by a majority of our society. I will agree with you though, those citizens who wear a baseball cap constantly irk me no end...

[MADem]

6. Hell, our banks are open and free. You should see the security in some European banks.

It's like going to the fucking pope to ask for a dispensation at some of those joints!!! You have to go into an 'airlock' and divest yourself of all items in a little locker, then you're given the once over and allowed in...!

[sir pball]

18. Last time I was in Geneva

Each of the big banks on the lake had two uniformed soldiers standing out front with G3 automatic rifles. That's taking security seriously.

[frylock]

7. 40 percent increase clearly not an indicator of hard financial times..

the increase can be chalked up to the availability of hoodies, shades and ball caps.

[lurky]

8. Yes, ban the hoodie to fight crime! n/t

[balantz]

9. Does that go for tatooed sunglasses?

It's about freeking time! Since when doesn't the news always shoe the robber with a hat and sunglasses? Not many! It's almost like they wanted the banks to be robbed.

[Hardrada]

10. Hi, I'm Clyde and this here's Bonnie

and here's all the Barrow gang!


(No hoodies there!)

[mzmolly]

11. As a former Bank Teller (involved in three robberies)

I understand. :hi:

[Robb]

12. So longs as I can still wear my Nixon and Reagan masks

...or my gorilla suit. My bank thinks I'm quite the cut-up.

[Vidar]

40. Good idea, though pres;ently I prefer the Guy Fawkes mask from "V for Vendetta".

[toiletpaper]

13. Good Idea.

My bank has the same policy.

[rocktivity]

14. You can thank New Jersey's "Mad Hatter"

In a federal court hearing on Sept. 11, 2007, 50-year-old James Madison pleaded guilty to six counts of bank robbery and confessed to committing 19 robberies in northern N.J. as part of a plea deal. The guilty plea came just a few weeks shy of a full year from Madison's first bank robbery on Sept. 22, 2006. In the end, the Mad Hatter's total take totaled more than $80,000.

Madison admitted to wearing a different hat during every robbery -- a quirk that earned him his Mad Hatter moniker early on in his bank heist spree... link

Followed this story on America's Most Wanted because I live nearby. The biggest problem for the cops was that he was such an ordinary-looking guy. They put up signs in the banks asking that people remove their hats and sunglasses, questioned quite a few lookalikes, and thought they'd hit the jackpot when they picked up a man who lived in Keyport New Jersey. But Keyport is thirty miles south of the robbery area, and I knew that whoever was doing it had to be from the area because he knew it like the back of his hand. I also knew he'd get caught eventually because he obviously wasn't in it for the money anymore--it had turned into an addiction.

:headbang:
rocknation

[olddad56]

15. how will that help, the crooks in the banks sit behind the desks.

[Sal Minella]

32. Shhh. The M$M doesn't want anyone to notice the thieves in the suits behind the desks.

[Betsy Ross]

16. Another law with implications for many religous folks.

Muslim and orthodox Jewish women won't be able to wear scarves? Sikhs turbans? Et cetera.

[sir pball]

20. Don't know how it will work in FL

But in PA it's not a hard-and-fast NO HATS rule. You can't have your face obscured - not that you can't wear a yarmulke or a turban, but, say, chador would be out.

[Hekate]

22. The seriously sun-sensitive, such as myself, wear sunglasses until after entering the building...

And once the hat has mashed down my hair, the hat pretty much stays on until I get home.

Lordy, I hope they feel safer as the squinting and sunburned enter their banks.

Hekate

[Ediacara]

38. I like this policy, but I think they should specify that they're banning *brimmed* hats

and not hats in general. The brim of a hat, or a the hood of a, uh, hoodie, can obscure the face of a robber since the cameras are mounted on the back wall near the ceiling pointing down at a 45ish degree angle. A head scarf or a turban will not obscure the person's face, but a baseball cap or fedora will.

[nichomachus]

17. Why not nudism?

Why not just pass a law that everyone has to be naked at all times? That would solve the bank robbery problem, stop shoplifting, and would speed up airport security.

[sir pball]

19. Been this way in PA for a couple years

No problem with it, I'll give banks a little leeway when it comes to things like this. Courthouses and schools, too. Sometimes there is a "greater good".

[KatyaR]

24. Oklahoma, too.

I so rarely go into the bank that when I do I'm always afraid I'll forget to take my sunglasses off. I'd hate to see what happened if I didn't.

[Kokonoe]

21. I support anything that stops honest costumers turning to crime.

And harsh penalties for all those law breakers wearing hats and sunglasses.

[olddad56]

23. In my younger days, I was often found to be wearing an illegal smile.

Illegal smile, great John Prine tune.

[qanda]

25. People still go into banks

You learn something new every day.

[Gormy Cuss]

26. Okay, here's where it gets stupid.

From the article's examples of what not to wear, photo # 3

How is wearing a cap like this much of a disguise?

[Thor_MN]

29. If that cap is out of bounds, what about wigs or toups?

The only thing that cap is covering is his hair line.

[superconnected]

27. Pretty soon these accessories won't be allowed anywhere for the reason

that government computers that scan faces and match citizens to their drivers licenses(really exist and being used by law enforment in seattle) will be able to do an effecient job because the persons face won't be covered.

Metal detectors would have been fine for the banks.

[ckramer]

30. I'd nerver heard so many bank robberies in the Clinton years

Everything Bush touched went bad.

People are desperate these days, no job, no food, no home, no nothing...

Time for the regime change!

[ckramer]

31. oops wrong thread

...

[Ilsa]

33. So my friend with "chemo hair" (almost none) has to take her hat off? nt

[Retrograde]

35. yup, and those of us who use prescription sunglasses

so we don't walk into things.

[NoodleyAppendage]

36. Nothing to get in the way of the planned facial or iris identity monitoring.

This will start with banks and then spread to other businesses and venues. You see...facial and iris biometric identification systems don't fair so well with sunglasses or other accessories that shield the face.

YOU WILL SUBMIT to the machine! Resistance is futile.

J

[sofa king]

37. What about beards, moustaches, and goatees?

Why not have everyone bank nude, so we can see all those distinguishing markings?

Edit: And our Middle Eastern women are pretty much out of the banking business, aren't they?

[951-Riverside]

39. and what about Hijabs and Burkas? n/t