NEW YORK -- A Queens lawmaker, state Sen. Frank Padavan, has introduced a bill that would require 911-linked panic buttons at all ATMs, but the bill has been slowed by concerns that the contract to install the security devices would benefit only one out-of-state company.
According to the New York Daily News, the measure was introduced by Padavan, a Republican, with support from Democrat Assemblyman Scott Stringer. It would mandate that all banks operating ATMs equip them with emergency access buttons that, if activated, would summon the police. (See related story Proposal for 911 line at ATMs not likely to get vote in NY Senate)
The so-called panic buttons -- which could be enabled only by customers using ATM cards -- would establish a direct connection with a 911 operator.
"We've seen all the headlines about victims being forced to go to an ATM to withdraw money and stories of victims being attacked while using an ATM to withdraw money," Padavan said at a recent news conference in Albany. "Anything that prevents these crimes seems like a reasonable idea to me."
The bill -- which has passed the Senate previously but not the Assembly -- is opposed by banks, which say there is no evidence the system would deter crime or help catch criminals.
Padavan and Stringer, however, said that the banks' resistance is financially motivated. It would cost $500 to $1,000 per ATM to install the buttons.
The bill is currently in the Assembly's banking committee, where it has been slowed by chairwoman Catherine Nolan, a Democrat. She objects to a line in the legislation that awards the bulk of the contract to North American Communications Corp., a Biloxi, Miss., maker of the safety systems.
Nolan, who has chaired the committee since March, said she has come under pressure to pass the bill from the Kamber Group, a public affairs company hired by North American Communications Corp.
"I resent and reject the high pressure," Nolan told the Daily News. "When it looks like just one company is going be designing and selling the devices, it raises eyebrows."
Nolan said that she is in favor of the bill and believes it could pass once the provision about the manufacturer is altered.
