The Do’s & Don’ts For Store Employees During An Armed Robbery

Armed robberies might seem like something out of a movie (or a nightmare), but unfortunately, they are all too real. Studies conducted over the past decade have found that on average, there is about one armed robbery every minute in the U.S., and the concentration of these crimes tended to be the highest in the Southeast. In light of this, storeowners in Nashville would do well to coach their employees on what to do in this terrifying scenario. Today we’ll talk through a few simple things that can be done if you ever find yourself in this situation.

Safety Is Priority #1

Remember this! Money and inventory can be replaced. You cannot, and neither can any of your customers. The person who is robbing your store would definitely prefer their crime to be carried out as smoothly as possible. This means that they do not want to harm anybody. However, that does not mean that they will not become violent if they perceive you or one of your customers to be causing them problems, so always act in interest of the well-being of yourself and your customers.

The Do’s

1. Do comply with every order that is given to you by the robber. This will keep you safe.
2. Do encourage your customers to follow suit and comply with the orders given by the robber. This will keep your customers safe.
3. If you are ordered to fill a bag with money, do put in change and smaller denominations of money first, holding back the larger denominations for last, unless the robber instructs you to do otherwise. This is an innocuous way for you to minimize monetary losses.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t glance towards the safe, or the area where the store’s valuables are kept. This is a dead giveaway.
2. Don’t volunteer to do anything that you are not being ordered to do. You do not get bonus points for being helpful.
3. Don’t make any sudden movements. This could startle the robber and catalyze violence.

Take Mental Notes

If you follow the aforementioned guidelines, you will survive, and afterwards there will be a police report that is filed. When you are talking to the police, you need to be able to remember as much as possible so that they can bring your robber(s) to justice. What follows are a series of questions that the police are likely to ask you in the wake of an armed robbery. Try to be able to answer as many of them as possible.

1. What exactly happened? And in what order?
2. Was there an accomplice?
3. Was there a getaway car? What was its license number/make/color? Which way did it drive when the robber(s) left?
4. Did the robber(s) touch anything while they were in the store? If so, the police may be able to obtain fingerprints or DNA to track them down.
5. Can you describe the suspect(s)? Height? Weight? Gender? Age? Hair? Ethnicity? Clothes? Tattoos? Accents? If there was more than one robber, did they use names to address one another?

Remember that all of this comes second to your well-being and the well-being of your customers. Having a gun pointed at you is terrifying so it may be difficult to remember all of this information. That is why having security system installed is so important. At NCA Alarms, we can equip your store with a state-of-the-art security system. If you would like to schedule an appointment for your business then call us today at (615) 777-7622.