Proposed Int. No. 960-A

By Council Members Koppell, Felder, Garodnick, Brewer, James and Gerson

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to mandating bullet-resistant barriers and necessary security inside bank buildings.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section one. Legislative Findings and Intent.  According to NYPD statistics, the number of bank robberies for the year 2008 is almost 57% greater than the previous year.  In recent statements to the press, Police Commissioner Kelly cited several possible reasons for the upward trend, including the banking industry’s increased efforts at offering customers more convenient banking by extending daily and weekend hours as well as not having tellers behind bullet-resistant glass.  The combination of these factors results in banks becoming increasingly vulnerable to would-be criminals. 

Any banking institution doing business within the City has a responsibility to take reasonable and proportional measures to provide a safe and secure environment for its customers and employees.  Banks employ many New York City residents and are an integral part of New York City consumers’ lives, being used by millions of New Yorkers on a daily basis.  It is the Council’s intent and objective to ensure the safety and security of banking facilities, customers, and bank employees by establishing basic security measure requirements for bank teller windows. 

§ 2. Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 10-160.1 to read as follows:

§ 10-160.1 Additional Security Measures at Banks.  a. A bank, as defined in section 10-160, shall comply with and maintain the following security measures:

(1)                     Install bullet-resistant barriers and/or partitions that meet or exceed Underwriters Laboratories Level II ballistics standards at all teller windows.  Banks shall provide sufficient documentation such as contractor certification or building inspector certification as proof that this requirement has been met.  Underwriters Laboratories Level II ballistics standards partitions must be constructed in such a manner and of a sufficient height so as to prevent an individual from breaching such partition to gain access to the protected area where the tellers transact business.

(2)                     Adopt and implement a security program that provides for a schedule of inspecting, testing and servicing of the bullet-resistant barriers and/or partitions installed pursuant to this section.

b. Violations and penalties. (1) A bank found to be in violation of any provision of subdivision (a) of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand five hundred dollars for each violation.  (2) Any bank found to be in violation of subdivision (a) of this section shall correct the violation within six weeks after such finding.  Failure to correct the violation within six weeks of such finding shall subject the bank to a civil penalty, in addition to the civil penalty provided for in paragraph (1) of this subdivision, of not less than one thousand dollars and not more than one thousand five hundred dollars and an additional civil penalty of one thousand dollars for each day such violation continues.

c. Enforcement. The police department and the department of buildings shall be authorized to enforce this section.

d. Exemptions. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this section shall not apply at banks where transactions are conducted primarily by cash-dispensing machines. 

§ 3.  This local law shall take effect one hundred and eighty days after its enactment into law.

O.P

6/25/09