Crime databank for R.I. banks gets little use

A crime-collection databank instituted by the Rhode Island Bankers Association a little over a year ago is similar to one recently launched by American Bankers Association that may have similarly disappointing results, warns a local bank security expert.
Last month, the American Bankers Association launched a secure Web portal where crime data for bank robberies, burglaries and ATM crimes – reported by subscribing banks – are collected and analyzed, then made available to participants.
The ABA Bank Capture will aggregate data in real-time, allowing banks to access information on incidents as they are reported.
But Daniel Patenaude, vice president, director of Security & Bank Security for Bank Rhode Island, said the Rhode Island Bankers Association began a similar crime data-collection service for its members just over a year ago and the program has gotten little use.
“I thought someone would be putting up something in the system every day, but we don’t see that,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to get the use that they’re hoping for.”
Fraud.net is available to Rhode Island Bankers Association members free of charge, Patenaude said. The network contains information from nearly 30 states. He said the problem is taking the time to enter information in the system and when it is entered taking time on the other side to process the data collected.
As director of security, Patenaude’s duties include developing and implementing internal security procedures and ensuring the physical security of the bank’s facilities. Patenaude is past president of Rhode Island Fraud Investigators’ Association.
ABA Bank Capture integrates with the FBI Bank Robbery Intelligence Center to communicate robbery details as they are received. The FBI reports back on cases as they are closed. Subscribers can customize incident alerts and system-notification emails. The new program is designed to help banks:
&#8226 Get real-time robbery and ATM crime alerts.
&#8226 Benchmark against their peers.
&#8226 Track incidents regardless of location.
&#8226 Enhance communication with law enforcement.
&#8226 Reduce losses.
The American Bankers Association represents banks of all sizes and charters and represents the nation’s $13 trillion banking industry and its two million employees.
“ABA Bank Capture provides an invaluable tool for banks and law enforcement to detect and deter bank crimes,” Larry Brown, senior vice president of risk management, First Citizens Bank, Raleigh, N.C., and chairman of the ABA Bank Security Committee, said in launching ABA Bank Capture. “Banks will now have the ability to more deeply analyze crime trends and be alerted to crimes occurring at other banks in their vicinity.”
Patenaude said that if he has a crime that he’s investigating, such as check fraud, he can look on Rhode Island’s Fraud.net to see if another bank had a similar case and pick up the phone and call that bank.
Credit Unions are not included in the Rhode Island Bankers Association or the American Bankers Association’s crime data-collection service, but Stephen Ormerod, vice president/chief security officer for Navigant Credit Union, says he wishes they were.
“ABA Bank Capture sounds like a great tool,” he said. “It will be interesting to see if something develops on the credit union side because criminals do not appear to discriminate between banks and credit unions when it comes to financial crime.”
Ormerod said that while they do have a great rapport with all local financial institutions, it would be a huge benefit to have access to reliable, real-time data.
Navigant has a network through the Rhode Island Fraud Investigators Association, where investigators from credit unions and banks along with law enforcement can share information in a timely fashion. The New England chapter of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators also performs a similar function. Recently, Ormerod and Steve Giannini, senior vice president – risk management at Navigant, were trying to gather some statistics for the credit union’s annual planning session, but soon learned that there is no central repository for data related to crimes against credit unions.
“We had to rely on data received from our contacts culled from their annual reports,” he said. “Obviously, this is not an efficient method of determining trends and allocating resources.”
Ormerod said he is looking forward to learning more about the product and how it can help financial institutions in real time, as well as for planning purposes. Patenaude is not sure Navigant would benefit from the system, if subscribers don’t update the information as soon as the crime occurs.
When the Rhode Island Bankers Association initiated the system, it was offered to area credit unions for a registration fee and a yearly maintenance fee. None of the credit unions signed on in part, Patenaude believes, because the price was so steep.
“Personally, I would give it to them right now, so maybe it’ll get some use,” said Patenaude, who chairs the association’s security committee.
In May, the Senate passed legislation to require outdoor security cameras at banks, prompted by a September 2010 robbery and murder outside a bank in Woonsocket district.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Roger A. Picard, D-Woonsocket, would have given the state another tool to help deter bank crime, by requiring all financial institutions and credit unions to maintain cameras that record their customer doors, ATMs and night-deposit repositories. The measure failed to pass the House, however. &#8226