What about those Armored Car Guys?

[Joe Kent]

In the late 60's and very early 70's when I was a young PD officer, the armored car guards were paid a $1000. bonus if they shot and killed an armed robber, Or so we were told. There were no truck robberies in that area. It truly was a different time. As an aside, there also was a "merchant" police {private} officer who for 40 years since the 30's had been and was hired by various businesses to patrol and protect their stores and offices. My old time sgt. told me that he,the merchant police officer, was tougher than nails and had been in several gunfights where the cost of jailing and prosecuting the bad guys was 0. Truly ,as Jeff Cooper said, "The past is like another country, they did things differently there."

 

[Smoke]

In the late 60's and very early 70's when I was a young PD officer, the armored car guards were paid a $1000. bonus if they shot and killed an armed robber, Or so we were told.

I find it very hard to believe that any company would accept the liability that would come with placing what amounts to a bounty on anyone's head.

 

[Smoke]

Armed security is a different job than being an armored car guard but in Colorado Springs the requirements are the same.

You have to be a licensed security officer with a firearms endorsement on your license, which means you have to have a Psych eval and go through 26 hours of training and qualify with your weapon. You can't carry concealed on duty and you can't carry a BUG (although many do) and even if you have the firearms endorsement you can't carry except on an armed site

The city of Colorado Springs limits armed guards to revolvers that are either .38 Caliber or .357 Magnums and Semiautomatics that are 9MM or .40 S&W, they may not be SAOs or SAAs. The company I work for (no armored car guards) does not allow revolvers although when I started they had some .38 caliber Charter Arms revolvers that they would issue you if you didn't have a gun; I heard they were pretty crappy.

They now have an approved list of firearms that you can purchase through payroll deduction but I've never heard of anyone doing it.

 

[Wolf1775]

The armored car company I worked for also had an approved list of firearms, and the branch manager could approve or deny a firearm if a good argument could be made. The one biggest requirement for any firearm is that it not have an external safety, so a lot of guys went with striker fired or DAO guns. We had some S&W Model 66's that they issued out in the event someone didn't have a pistol they owned or could get approved as well.

We did hire a few guys who were certified LEO's or fire fighters. With the LEO's, it was primarily part time officers who weren't hired as full time by their department. The firefighters were given shifts that corresponded with the days that they weren't on duty at their firehouse. The rest of the guys were either just doing the job to fill in time until they found better, or were older guys who wanted the work and didn't mind the job.

It's not really the highest paying job. Starting out you'll be happy with $10.00 per hour if you're certified to carry a firearm. If you come from another company with experience you can negotiate for higher, but it wasn't guaranteed. Some of the other companies may have offered better wages.

 

[NavalOps]

I work at a bank, and let me tell you, banks have nowhere near as much money in them as people think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[walkin' trails]

I always figured that the companies really don't want their employees getting int gunfights. I worked unarmed loss prevention for a decent chain hotel back when I was finishing college. Management wasn't that keen on us defending ourselves if some drunk took a swing. Security is one of those thankless jobs and those who benefit from those who risk their necks for little pay are quick to forget.

 

[WR Moore]

Back in the day, Wells Fargo used to pay a $1500 tax free bonus for any robber shot dead.

As someone stated earlier, they might have to find a way to rebrand that merit bonus if it still exists.

Again, back in the day, we did some business with an outfit that looked like a small local bank with an armored service. While talking with the gent that ran the armored service, he admitted that if one knew the schedule and got the unit visiting a slew of stores for the right chain, they might score several million. How much of that might have been coin is unknown. With the growth of use of credit cards, I kinda doubt there's any/many trucks with that kind of load today.

Forty odd years ago, I was walking past a Federal Reserve branch when the armored door opened and several armored trucks rolled out. I noticed several armored gun positions covering the door area. A comment to a guard at the door itself got the response that there were BARs in the positions. [Waste not, want not I guess. Wonder if they're still in service?]

 

[Wolf1775]

Cash itself gets pretty heavy with enough bills, even with $100 bills. Most of the currency, even for bank runs, won't have a whole lot in large bills. Yes, you can get away with quite a bit, but that's not an easy pile of cash to get rid of or hide. Hell, when I was delivering cash to the Consul Energy Center in Pittsburgh it took a handcart since the cash was so heavy. And forget about the coin currency; each box of quarters weighs 25 lbs.

The guys in the truck just want to get the day done and go home safely, but the guys I worked with had few qualms about shooting someone intent on trying to rob them. They weren't trigger happy lunatics, but they weren't easy targets either. The guys on the bank runs tended to have more experience on the job, former military, or part time police too, so they were pretty sharp. To top it off, anyone who does decide to hit an armored car will also attract attention from the FBI since such companies fall under their jurisdiction.

 

[OLDFED]

I KNEW IT!!!!!

I had no idea.

ARMORED CARS ROBBED: 7
7 total incidents involved armored cars. Six of these seven incidents estimated in $7,764,813.06 total loot taken. Whereas only $120,353.00 was recovered. <---THAT ISN'T MUCH !

BANKS ROBBED: 1,325
$ 9,348,956.44 is the estimated total of loot robbed from 1,189 banks (90 percent) of the 1,325 bank robberies that occurred in 2010 throughout the United States. In 232 incidents, a total of $1,396,106.43 has been reported as being recovered.

I did my career on the wrong end!

 

[Smoke]

I work at a bank, and let me tell you, banks have nowhere near as much money in them as people think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2 guys just hit a Wells Fargo (bank) in Centennial and got away with a half a million dollars

 

[Smoke]

Back in the day, Wells Fargo used to pay a $1500 tax free bonus for any robber shot dead.

I'd want to see a cite on that one.

 

[Wolf1775]

2 guys just hit a Wells Fargo (bank) in Centennial and got away with a half a million dollars

Small potatoes. In 2012 a Garda truck was robbed in Pittsburgh, and over $2 million was taken. The messed up part is that the guy who robbed it worked for the company. He shot his partner in the back of the head and ran. FBI found him in Florida.

 

[mc5aw]

I'm not getting killed over someone else's money if can I help it, and I sure wouldn't be armed with anything less than a 12 gauge pump gun w < 14" barrel if I did work a truck route. I give the drivers and bag men a great deal of credit.

Aren't the $ satchels fitted with dye poppers?

 

[WR Moore]

I'd want to see a cite on that one.

We're talking 40-50 years ago minimum. Maybe in a history of Wells-Fargo? I believe I may have got that from an FBI guy back then.

 

[Smoke]

We're talking 40-50 years ago minimum. Maybe in a history of Wells-Fargo? I believe I may have got that from an FBI guy back then.

I could see it in the 19th century but I can't imagine it would fly much past the mid 20th

 

[OFT II]

I find it very hard to believe that any company would accept the liability that would come with placing what amounts to a bounty on anyone's head.

In the 1920s the Texas Bankers Association offered a reward of dead bank robbers. Check it out.

Texas Co-op Power Magazine - Texas Stories: The Dead Bank Robber Bounty - An Online Community for Members of Texas Electric Cooperatives

 

[Wolf1775]

I'm not getting killed over someone else's money if can I help it, and I sure wouldn't be armed with anything less than a 12 gauge pump gun w < 14" barrel if I did work a truck route. I give the drivers and bag men a great deal of credit.

Aren't the $ satchels fitted with dye poppers?

It all depends on the company. Some might, some might not. For large deliveries we may actually put the cash in a locking bag. Some companies may authorize shotguns for large deliveries too.

If we didn't have to shoot to deescalate a situation the we didn't shoot. The money is insured and the Feds will get involved. It seems that most who have attempted to rob armored cars initiated the robbery with force and the threat of death or serious injury, so things get limited in how to respond then. Either meet force with force or surrender and pray.

Interesting note, my company instructed drivers to immediately leave the scene if things went sideways since the truck is likely the target and not the hopper. The theory is that hopper has a better chance of surviving a robbery if the main payoff leaves. None of us liked the idea of ditching our partners, though the partners I worked with specifically told me to bail and not look back if things got violent. Considering two of my partners were retired military and one retired cop that's not a light thing for them to say.

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

I find it very hard to believe that any company would accept the liability that would come with placing what amounts to a bounty on anyone's head.

Wells Fargo had a large poster in their facility that I personally saw when I was a detective investigating an armored car robbery. It offered a reward to their guards/couriers. I seem to remember it was for either $1000.00 or $1500.00 to knock em' down. That's a fact. It was a sizeable poster, you couldn't miss it. It was in the office area where the branch manager (former FBI SAIC) conducted business. And it wasn't 50 years ago either. Those guys carry handguns, and shotguns in the trucks with firing portholes. Why does anyone wonder why, think they're for show?

Cheers;
Lefty

 

[Smoke]

Wells Fargo had a large poster in their facility that I personally saw when I was a detective investigating an armored car robbery. It offered a reward to their guards/couriers. I seem to remember it was for either $1000.00 or $1500.00 to knock em' down. That's a fact. It was a sizeable poster, you couldn't miss it. It was in the office area where the branch manager (former FBI SAIC) conducted business. And it wasn't 50 years ago either. Those guys carry handguns, and shotguns in the trucks with firing portholes. Why does anyone wonder why, think they're for show?

Cheers;
Lefty

It's not a question of thinking the weapons are for show, although since we've had armored car guards in this thread state that company policy is to surrender the cash that kinda makes me think to a degree the weapons are for show.

I'm thinking more of the hassles this could cause with their insurer or liability issues when the robber's family sues the company over the policy claiming the prospect of the bonus enticed the guard to "gun down" the robber unnecessarily just to get the reward. I could see this bonus costing the company far more money than it saves them.

Bottom line a stated company policy of surrendering the cash doesn't match a bonus for dropping the person trying to steal the cash. The dichotomy doesn't work for me

 

[Biggfoot44]

The statistic of *7* is misleading. There is a very narrow definition for an Armored Car robbery to consist of "Bank Robbery" . The rest are * theft from interstate commerece * and/ or generic armed robbery.

Not naming names , but the Bonous was not for the shooting of bad guys ( nor for taking a bullet yourself) . The Bonus was for either preventing a loss , or providing information leading to yada , yada . In the '70s was $500 , in '90s was $1000 .