News

Detroit council to vote on ordinance requiring emergency call system at ATMs

July 27, 2004

DETROIT - Detroit could become the first major city in the country to require banks to install 911 emergency-call buttons on exterior ATMs if the Detroit City Council approves an ordinance that would mandate the buttons and security cameras at all freestanding and drive-through exterior ATMs within the city limits.

The council expects to vote on the ordinance on July 30, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"People are in a vulnerable position when they are at an ATM," said Council President Pro Tem Kenneth Cockrel Jr., who introduced the ordinance on July 21. "From a safety standpoint, it makes sense."

But banks oppose the proposal and say they are not subject to local ordinances.

"We will be expressing fairly strong opposition to this," said Dennis Koons, president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Bankers Association.

Lawyers and academics who work in the field of banking law agree that the proposal could be preempted or blocked by state or federal law. For instance, courts struck down efforts by San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., to regulate ATM surcharges with rulings that state and federal rules took precedence.

Cockrel said the city's law department evaluated and approved the ordinance before he introduced it. Cockrel said a bank could be fined up to $500 per ATM not equipped with cameras and the 911 button.

Small towns in Ohio and New Jersey have passed ordinances that require financial institutions to install extra security measures, such as the 911 system, around ATMs, but no large city has done so. State legislatures in New York, New Jersey and Ohio have tried unsuccessfully to pass similar bills.

Detroit's ordinance would require a card-activated call system that automatically dials 911 when a button is pushed.

To help prevent crank calls or false alarms, it only works if a customer's ATM card is in the machine, said Larry Steelman, vice president of SafeAlert Systems, the Florida-based company that came up with the card-activated technology.

In Michigan, only one ATM -- at the Downriver Community Federal Credit Union in Ecorse --currently uses  the 911 system. The technology can cost up to $1,500 and can be connected to up to three machines at the same location.

Local banks and the state association that represents them question the need and cost for such a system. They argue that ATM crimes are not a serious problem.

Banking officials said they will raise their concerns during a public hearing before the council on July 29.