Seattle banks are finding that a good way to cut back on robberies is to offer the best customer service possible:
Excessive friendliness is the key to the “Safecatch” system created by FBI Special Agent Larry Carr. The premise is that an overdose of courtesy will unnerve would-be robbers and get them to rethink the crime.
“If you’re a legitimate customer, you think, ’This is the friendliest person I’ve met in my life.’ If you’re a bad guy, it scares the lights out of you,” said Drew Ness, a vice president of Bellevue-based First Mutual Bank, who advocates the approach.
When I worked at Borders many moons ago this was their policy with suspicious people in the store. Go up and offer them excellent customer service, smother them with attention, and their more likely to get unnerved and walk out because they don’t know if you’re just doing your job or if you’re onto them.