Whether big or small, financial institutions are fraught with robbery. According to the risk management website Lowers and Associates, armored car robberies happen pretty often, almost every month in the US. What’s surprising is that these institutions are obviously protected—the vast majority of those included in an FBI study had alarm systems and surveillance cameras installed.
Just driving an armored vehicle makes one a constant target of danger. In fact, back in 2006, an armored car guard was killed and more than $1 million was stolen by two suspects. On August 16 this year, someone armed with a knife attacked an armored car guard on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, prompting the guard to fire on him. Fortunately, the man was arrested by police a short time later. However, months back, in June, two masked men got away with a considerable amount of money after robbing an armored car in front of a Wells Fargo in Oakland, California. On May 4, a group of at least four suspects armed with rifles overpowered an armored car guard inside of a South Houston grocery store and stole a bag of cash.
If you manage a fleet of armored vehicles, how do you improve the security of your drivers and the valuables being transported?
How to Use GPS Trackers When Transporting Valuables
GPS tracking devices can be planted in money bundles or bags, hardwired to armored vehicles, or even discreetly attached to ATMs. Because of their size, they can easily be slipped into vinyl envelopes and transport containers.
Ideally, these devices are placed in cash bags or bundles so that if theft occurs, no action is required from bank staff. When the thief takes off, authorities are immediately able to track their location.
GPS Tracking Features
GPS fleet management solutions have never been simpler. With the precision performance of our system, you’re sure to get the peace of mind you deserve wherever you are in the world.
Real-time location
Our systems comes with advanced features whose main task is to provide the real-time location of the armored cars, guards, or money bags. Location tracking remains convenient and accessible anytime, anywhere, as long as GSM cellular reception exists, ensuring that the valuables or vehicles never go off the radar. It packs a powerful hybrid of GPS, GSM, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth tracking technology to accurately locate these worldwide in real time, whether indoors or outdoors.
Geofence alerts
The devices can use geofencing to ensure the driver or money bag stays within a preset boundary. Get immediate alerts if the money bags have been suspiciously moved to a different location through geofencing features. Geofence alerts notify you when the tracker is somewhere outside an allowed area or when it is suspiciously moving out of schedule you set so you can track the valuables of your clients when they’re stolen.
Multiple device tracking
Since you’re tracking multiple armored cars, drivers, and/or money bags at the same time, you can add and manage several of the dispatched tracking devices you’re using on a single view on your desktop, tab, or phone. This makes it perfect for any manager of a financial institution to monitor all these risky assets being transported at the same time.
History reports
GPS trackers can record the location history in the device and send it to anyone. These history reports also produce complete details of the device’s whereabouts. For each armored car equipped with a GPS device, information such as start time, end time, duration per stop, location, speed, and distance are delivered. Listing down details of the locations that the device has been to can be particularly useful for people who use GPS trackers for security purposes.
Portability
Trackers can be used to capture thieves and robbers red-handed because they are compact enough to be slipped into practically anywhere, like in money bags, envelopes, safes, or in discreet spots in armored trucks. The size of the GPS trackers you choose will matter a lot when you use it for financial institutions, where monitoring is supposedly discreet.
Mobile solutions
Most GPS trackers come with a free companion app that lets you create or view geofences, view account settings, or track other vitals such as battery life anytime and anywhere you like. Notifications in/out can be displayed instantly on a smartphone if a tracking app is installed, allowing you a higher degree of control over customizing location reports.
The Huge Benefits of GPS Tracking to Financial Institutions
As thieves become modernized, financial institutions must also evolve their methods of preventing loss. GPS trackers are such gift from this era’s Industrial Revolution.
Enhance vehicle route planning.
The use of a GPS tracker will give you better route options for your drivers. Steer clear of crime-prone roads and streets. This also reduces the time your driver has to spend on the road, resulting in faster delivery arrival and lesser fuel expenses.
Improve dispatching method.
With a GPS tracker, you will be able to accommodate late requests by finding the closest available employee in the area of your client.
Monitor transfer of assets from bank to bank.
With the help of GPS trackers, drivers are able to successfully prevent losses and ensure safe transportation of valuables, as well as quickly locate stolen items. Once assets are delivered, the manager is notified by a push message. Being able to monitor cash transfer throughout will increase security for every transfer and boost trust from clientele. Overall, this helps managers ensure timely deliveries, minimize theft, and have an overall view of the operation to help in decision-making.
Ensure employee safety.
One of the simplest and most effective ways of keeping your guards and drivers safe is through the use of a GPS tracker. An app or tracker with an SOS button can send an alert to the administrator, informing them of possible emergencies.
Easily recover stolen money.
In most of the cases for financial institutions with GPS trackers, the stolen money is recovered even before the robbers get a mile away. Because of the tracker’s geofence feature, authorities get instant notifications in case the money bags or armored cars are taken away from a predefined safe zone. With a GPS tracking device that is small and discreet, it becomes extra easy to track down criminals even when they get away with the money and leave the truck behind. This device will at any time give live updates on the location of the money.
Manage your fleet of armored cars.
GPS trackers are not only used to optimize routes but can be used to manage your whole fleet of armored cars. See which employee is on the move or which driver is waiting for their next assignment at the base. With our system, you can check all routes, see departure and arrival times, and assign tasks efficiently through communication capabilities in order to optimize your armored cars’ trips.
Set up areas of coverage.
Easily set up areas of coverage for different teams and workers. Simply use your GPS map, divide your city, geofence each area, and assign teams and workers to each one. This way, your teams will be more efficient and there won’t be any mix-ups. Each task will be allocated to an employee in a specific area of coverage, and all information can be easily checked and kept track of.
Coordinate better with your workforce.
GPS tracking guarantees the easier coordination of your workforce. All your drivers and guards are visible on a map, and by knowing where each of them is, you can create routes or use their location to arrange for a faster, safer trip.
Monitor driving habits.
Vehicle information such as location, speed, acceleration, brakes, RPM, fuel efficiency, and engine data are among the vital information the GPS tracker gathers and analyzes. Its live tracking system allows you to receive this data automatically once the predefined limits are reached. Tracking this data is necessary to avoid unnecessary wear and tear and accidents due to bad driving habits. Suitable GPS tracking devices will enable you to monitor all these.