Mobile phones banned in Chicago banks

It’s getting harder and harder for bank robbers these days. The First National Bank in Chicago have banned the use of cell phones in their five branches. The problem, according to senior vice president Ralph Oster, is that the company doesn’t know what people are doing on their phones in the lobby, and that creates a security concern.

There are apparently several circumstances of robbers inside a bank using phones to communicate with lookouts outside of the building. By stopping that communication, the company hopes to make it harder for the robbers to succeed.

The First National Bank is not the first to dramatically over-react to a situation in this way. Banks in Mexico City acted on their paranoia to ban phones in May, and Citizens Financial Bank in Munster, Indiana seems to have earned the distinction of being the first American bank to ban chatting on your RAZR.