STRATEGIC PARTNERS
May 22, 2003
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A bill requiring an emergency 911 line at ATMs will likely not get a floor vote in the state Senate because it lacks the necessary support, according to an Associated Press report.
"It had little or no support," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Hugh Farley said in the APreport.
Farley said that some members of his committee and other senators were concerned that any attempt to alert police through a 911 line could escalate an ATM robbery to an assault, or worse. A 911 line might even result in more crimes because bank customers could be lured into a false sense of security and use ATMs more often at night, he said.
Farley said more effective anti-crime measures would be to provide better lighting and surveillance photography to catch ATM robbers and thieves, according to the AP report.
Farley said the banking industry had not opposed the proposal, despite the potential cost, about $750 per ATM. A spokesman for the New York Bankers Association didn't respond to the AP's request for comment.
"I don't know why Sen. Farley would say there's no support in the Assembly because it has passed in the Assembly, so I'm a little confused," said the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Scott Stringer.
"People have been dragged into ATMs to take out their money, women who have been raped have been forced into ATMs to take out their money," said Stringer, a mugging victim 12 years ago in Manhattan. "It's time to advance proposals to use 21st century technology to stop these crimes from happening or at the very least give them a button to allow law enforcement to track these criminals down ... if you are going to be raped or held at knifepoint, you should have options."
In April, New York City officials, frustrated by a soaring rate of unarmed bank robberies, pressured bankers to beef up security -- including at ATMs -- with digital video cameras, bullet-resistant barriers and other measures.
"We are interested in working with the Legislature to improve ATM safety, and it's important that the bill includes provisions to protect against false alarms," said Jordan Barowitz, spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"The banks have driven people out of the branches with the ATMs and are real cost savers for them, so they certainly should provide a safe environment for them to do their ATM banking," said said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a consumer group.
