Raid-control™ measures prove their worth
30 June 2007

Two robbers were jailed for a total of seven and a half years at St. Albans Crown Court for a robbery at Bradford & Bingley in Hertford in August last year when the activation of a number of Raid-control™ measures led to their early arrest.

“Bright red smoke billowed from the bag in which the money had been placed, damaging the banknote and covering the robbers in red dye.”

The Raid-control™ robbery reduction initiative involves the use of five minimum standards to protect staff from violent robberies. These are: staff trained in robbery awareness; available cash minimised; time-delay systems in use; cameras in operation; and till security devices deployed.

Dave Roberts, Bradford & Bingley Security Manager, said: “We take staff and customer safety very seriously and have fully embraced the Raid-control™ concept across our entire estate. While we would prefer that robberies did not happen in the first place, when they do occur we need systems that will help the police detect and convict those responsible. Raid-control™ provides both the preventative and enforcement aspects of our overall security strategy and in this case all five elements played a part in the arrest and convictions of those responsible.”

Oluwakayode Salawu, aged 21, of Peckham, London, and Raymond Ogidi, aged 22, of Barnet, Middlesex, entered the bank with a third man, yet to be tried, demanding staff open the safe. A fully-trained, quick-thinking cashier operated the time-delay system fitted to the safe, preventing access to the bulk cash by the robbers.

As they waited for the safe to unlock, the robbers turned their attention to the tills and stole a small amount of money; they then fled from the bank after being distracted. A till security device was concealed in the stolen cash and as they left the branch the device activated.

Bright red smoke billowed from the bag in which the money had been placed, damaging the banknotes, covering the robbers in red dye and drawing the attention of members of the public in the immediate area.

Twenty minutes later the men were arrested in their getaway car on the A10 near Cheshunt, after a witness had noted part of the registration number of the Renault Megane.

Salawu pleaded guilty to the robbery in January and was jailed for three and a half years. Ogidi delayed entering a guilty plea until February, when police released closed-circuit television footage of him looking straight at the camera while committing the robbery; he was jailed for four years.

Neil Chrismas: “We fully support Raid-control.”

IBP-Group Sales Director, Neil Chrismas, was delighted that their till security device had helped in the arrest of two violent criminals. He said: “We fully support Raid-control™ with our range of Robbery Control Systems and are very pleased that one of our products has played a part in the detection of the criminals who committed the robbery at the Bradford & Bingley branch.”

For more information visit the Products and Raid-control™ areas of this site, email or call +44 (0)1428 641399.