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By Greg Bartlett

A year or so ago, a man robbed one of our local banks. He held some people hostage for a couple hours, but eventually police managed to arrest him with no harm done to any of the bank’s employees or customers. Sometimes, though, hostages aren’t as lucky. For instance, in 2006, 80 hostages were taken during almost 7,300 bank robberies. The vast majority of these hostages were customers or employees, and 92 of the 129 injuries which occurred also involved customers or employees. And one employee was killed in a bank robbery in 2006. Understandably, because customers and employees are in serious danger any time an individual wants to rob a bank, banks sometimes tell employees to just hand over the money and not try to resist.

Bank Robbers & GPS Tracking

While this policy is safer for customers and employees, it means the bank robber gets away with the money, right? Actually, maybe not. There’s always the things employees can hide in the money to mark the money or the robber. But GPS tracking has opened up a whole new opportunity for protecting bank money without endangering the customers and employees.

In Tennessee, a man recently robbed a bank and got away with almost $7,000. Only he didn’t really get away. Hidden amongst the money was a GPS device which allowed police to follow the robber to his home and arrest him about half an hour after the robbery. In another instance, a robber was pursued by police, and even when he abandoned his car and fled on foot the police still followed him, because he had taken the money, and thus the GPS device, with him. He was soon arrested, as was a different bank robber who was simply pulled off the road on his way home from the bank. Yet another bank robber, like the one in Tennessee, was arrested once he returned home.

The use of GPS devices allows banks to protect their money without endangering their customers or employees. Bank robbers come in, demand money, and get the money without feeling threatened enough to take hostages. Because the GPS device is small and well hidden, it could take hours to find, and the bank robber doesn’t have that much time to sift through all the bills to locate the device. Police, therefore, can follow and arrest the bank robber without risking a hostage situation. The only one a GPS device doesn’t help is the bank robber – it only helps to ensure his capture.