Police want more surveillance on ATM

Following a string of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) robberies, the City Police have ordered banks to post most guards and more install closed-circuit television (CCTV) security systems.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar said that banks should install CCTV systems so that they could not easily be detected by burglars.

“CCTV cameras are often far too visible which make it easy for thieves to compromise the surveillance system,” Baharuddin told reporters.

Baharuddin also said banks should deploy more security guards to secure ATMs, especially when the machines were located in high-profile establishments such as convenience stores or shopping malls.

“There are also too few officers guarding ATMs. This makes it difficult for us to track down the thieves,” Baharuddin said.

There has been an increase in ATM robberies over the last several months in Jakarta.

In the most recent incident, an Alfa Midi minimarket in Kelapa Dua, Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, was robbed on Sunday.

The culprits smashed open the store’s ATM, which was operated by state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), before escaping with Rp 99 million (US$10,989).

In a similar incident, an Alfamart convenience store in nearby Bekasi, West Java, was brazenly robbed on Dec. 11.

Four armed robbers took store attendants and customers hostages, binding their hands with plastic rope before stranding them in North Bekasi — and escaping with a 100-kilogram ATM with more than Rp 600 million in cash belonging to state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).

Bekasi Police Chief Sr. Comr. Imam Sugianto said that the incident was likely connected to a previous ATM robbery in Depok, West Java.

Both crimes evinced a similar modus operandi, Iman said, specifically the use of a Kijang van as a getaway car and taking customers and store workers as hostages.

Earlier in 2010, a syndicate of ATM thieves compromised card magnetic strip readers and surveillance cameras to read individual ATM users’ PIN numbers, making off with billions of rupiah in the process.

An official of Bank Mandiri, the nation’s largest bank by assets, said Bank Mandiri would comply with the police’s order.

“We are going to continuously develop our banking technology and operating systems to secure the interests of our clients by ensuring there is safety while conducting transactions through electronic channels,” Bank Mandiri corporate secretary Sukoriyanto Saputro told The Jakarta Post.

Even before the Jakarta Police issued its order, Bank Mandiri had been working to improve security, he said.

“For ATMs in particular, Bank Mandiri has been continuously updating its counters and booths with CCTVs that have met the requirements of international standards since 2009.

They’re the same ones used around the globe. We will add more and more CCTVs to protect our clients when conducting transactions,” he said.