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Case Study: How a California bank got rid of 99% of their vagrant headaches, and saved money too!

Aug 11, 2022 | Case Studies, Video Monitoring

Bank security cameras

Case Study: The Problem

 

When Nancy* first contacted Pioneer Security Services, she explained that as the Director of Service Operations for a California bank with dozens of branches, she was struggling to figure out how to reduce losses caused by transients and vagrants that were sleeping outside the bank. Besides the problem of vandalism, regular customers were being scared away from using the night deposit box, and employees were not always able to open the branches on time, because of delays caused by needing to call the police to remove transients blocking the doorways.

“There’s vandalism and a lot of trash to cleanup. It’s just ongoing, and it becomes extremely expensive, and the repairs, whether it’s electrical where they steal from our power poles, or get into and access our water, or sleep in our dumpsters, all of that was just becoming a bit excessive and overwhelming.” ~~ Nancy, Director of Service Operations

Before reaching out to us, Nancy tried making the outside areas less attractive by changing the landscaping, and adding additional nightly patrols by their guard patrol company. But as soon as the guard would leave the area, the homeless would return. To further deter vandalism, the bank installed big metal covers on their electrical boxes, and locked down their water spigots. Nancy explains, “We did what we could, but it didn’t really make a difference.”
“Most of the time, our employees would end up having to call the police, and that would cause a delay in opening of the branch, because we don’t want to put our employees in jeopardy. You just never know the mental state of a person that’s asleep in front of the door.” ~~ Nancy, Director of Service Operations

The problem was becoming more expensive, and Nancy was frustrated. Then, one day Nancy’s boss sent her a link to Pioneer Security Service’s Live Video Guard service (also known as Proactive Video Monitoring). Nancy and Howard Feldman (Pioneer Security) spoke about the problems the bank was having, and decided to start their Live Video Guard implementation at the branch that was Nancy’s biggest headache.

Case Study: The Solution

 

Using aerial footage from Google Earth, and based on Nancy’s specific needs, Pioneer Security designed a six-camera system with four talk-down speakers.   The technology “magic” that powers this solution is Artificial Intelligence that pre-processes all video in split seconds to differentiate cars, swaying branches, dogs, and flying bugs from humans.  With this computerized filter, our human guards are only looking at people that have lingered a bit too long (and are not just on the sidewalk passing by).

Pioneer Security Services: Bank Layout
Click above image to view bank site diagram.

After installation, there were a few weeks of tweaks as the guards learned the normal employee/janitorial crew schedule, and the Pioneer staff optimized which areas to cover with the cameras, but Nancy said working with Pioneer was easy, our staff was very responsive, and communication was excellent.

“Everybody has been great. You’re so responsive. It’s so appreciated. And the guards and other staff call me, you know, when they have questions, and I always appreciate that, because I think it’s better to ask than for me to say, ‘Why didn’t you call me?’” ~~ Nancy, Director of Service Operations

As of this writing, we cover five of the bank’s locations, and are looking forward to helping them with more branches. How are the Pioneer video guards doing so far? We asked Nancy, “Did we solve the problems 100%?” And she replied, “Well, if it’s not a hundred, it would be really, really close!”
“At the first location, it has taken all of the nastiness away from the building.  And then at the second location, honestly, I’ve seen no traffic. Nobody shows up. If they show up, they’re just walking by. They know the good spots and they know the spots they can’t stay in.” ~~ Nancy, Director of Service Operations

And lastly, how did the Pioneer Live Video Guards reduce the bank’s expenses? The bank no longer needs to hire people to clean up the trash that was being left behind, no need to pay for stolen electricity or water, and Nancy is able to reduce the nightly rounds being made by patrol guards.

To learn more about how Pioneer Security Service’s Live Video Guard service can cost-effectively keep vandals away from your business, call (800) 824-8844, or click to visit our website.

* Nancy is a Senior Vice-President, Director of Service Operations at a regional California bank with dozens of locations. For security reasons, bank management did not want us to share the bank’s name. Since we are all about security, we understood completely! Thank you Nancy, for taking the time to be interviewed for our first case study.

Click to download this Case Study in PDF:
How one California bank solved their vagrant headaches.

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