Wheel of Fortune

Sir - I've studied the srticle on cash-in-transit written by Graham Levinsohn in the July 2004 edition of Security Management Today (‘Winning the cash war’, Guarding Watch, pp45-46), and wish to congratulate him on the accuracy of his words.

Over the years, SMP Security has written to many trade publications – including your own – that have covered the issues surrounding Cash-in-Transit. We’ve pointed out that there are very simple and cost-effective solutions to ensure the additional safety of security personnel involved with the cash and valuables collection process, particularly when that process entails them walking across car parks and through secluded areas during the hours of darkness.

In many cases, that problem can be eliminated by the client organisation simply purchasing a cash transfer system. All that’s required for, say, a supermarket are some simple alterations to car parking areas which will allow the system to be installed. Once these units are fully operational they offer little or no risk from attacks on the officers. Five minutes worth of training is all it takes.

Recent figures issued by the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad suggest that Cash-in-Transit attacks are on the increase. Between the periods 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2003 and 1 January 2004 through to 30 June, that increase has amounted to 38.18%. A startling rise, and one that could have been avoided (at least in part) by the introduction of secure cash transfer systems on a wider scale.

However, there’s one reason why cash collection service providers wouldn’t want such changes to take place. Such a system would allow collections to be made more efficiently and with less risk attached. Thus they wouldn’t be able to charge their clients such high premiums per collection.

Of course, there could be other reasons why cash collection companies don’t take this matter further and, ultimately, establish an industry standard for the height of scissor and rotary hatches.

We do understand that, in some cases, the design of buildings and car parks doesn’t allow collection vehicles to park immediately alongside – or reverse towards – a given building, which would render a cash transfer system inoperable. The industry needs to address this issue. That much is obvious.

Of late, we’ve witnessed the ‘methods of transportation’ used by one cash collection concern (ie using a supermarket trolley to wheel bags of coins down the street). Perhaps the area wasn’t classed as “high risk”!?!