Einar Kvaran’s letter expresses during robberies that tellers just hand over the money without any resistance. Well, I can understand the approval of the idea that bank tellers should be confrontational due to what the writer is worried about what an armed robber might do if resisted.

However, by doing so one is assuming that the robber has no other acts in mind. You are assuming that he will leave. You are assuming he won’t start shooting anyway. Those can be dangerous assumptions.

My assumption,when facing an armed individual who’s up to no good is that he is unpredictable. He could do anything at any time. Am I willing to bet my life on the idea that if you give him what he wants he will go away? No. I’m not, and neither should banks.

There are many methods that a bank can employ to foil an armed robbery and they don’t include tellers being confrontational. One that I encountered several years ago was a very loud — and I mean loud — klaxon mated with very bright strobe lights. The bank’s pet cat set if off and the lights nearly blinded you and the noise was deafening. Any robber would run as fast as he could out of that bank it was that loud and that bright.

There are other methods that can be employed. If the banks take teller safety seriously they will explore their options and do what is best to protect their employees.