Service with a smile likely helped avoid bank robberies

A warm greeting and attentive customer service likely helped two Ballard banks avoid being robbed earlier this week, according to the FBI.

Police said a suspicious-looking man walked into the First Mutual Bank branch on 15th Avenue Northwest on Tuesday afternoon. He was immediately recognized by employees who'd seen his photo on a flier as a suspect in previous robberies, said FBI Special Agent Larry Carr.

Instead of waiting for the man to make it to the teller's counter, an employee immediately greeted the man, treated him as a valued customer and offered to help him at a desk.

The man left without seeing a teller, Carr said. First Mutual employees then called a nearby U.S. Bank branch to warn them that the man might be headed to the bank.

A few minutes later, a man matching the suspect's description walked into the U.S. Bank, where employees provided similar customer service.

The man again left empty-handed, Carr said.

Carr said the same man is believed to have robbed a Washington Mutual branch in Factoria on Wednesday. He also is a suspect in an Oct. 15 robbery at a Washington Mutual branch on Sandpoint Way Northeast.

The man — whom the FBI has dubbed "Bad News Bandit" because he carries a newspaper and opens it to reveal his demand note to tellers — remains at large, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said.

Carr said employees at the two banks where the man was stymied were using robbery-prevention techniques in which employees help divert would-be robbers from their goal of getting to the cash and out of the bank quickly and quietly.

By focusing attention in the guise of good customer service on all who enter a bank, Carr says, bank employees can unnerve robbers, who generally try to remain as anonymous as possible when approaching a teller. The ploy specifically targets so-called "note jobs," in which a robber passes a note demanding cash to a teller, Carr said. He estimates 90 percent of bank robberies in the Seattle area are note jobs.

"If a person is a legitimate customer, they will experience superior service," Carr said. "If their intention, however, is to rob the bank, they will experience paranoia, anxiety and a desire to escape."

First Mutual employees were the first to adopt the techniques, which were developed by Carr over the last few years.

Since then, Carr said 50 bank branches have participated in training and bank robberies in the area have plummeted.

"It's changing the mindset," said Carr, who has interviewed thousands of bank robbers, tellers and other bank employees.

"What I was seeing were situations in which employees knew the minute someone walked in the door that they were going to be robbed. But their mindset was, 'All we can do is wait,' " he said.

"Now, we're empowering them to take control of the environment," he said. "It completely changes the dynamic, and it doesn't cost a thing,"

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com