Dave Foulk Internet Flyer

It was bedlam this morning. Tens of thousands of dollars in damage to vehicles, and who-knows-how-much in road workers, materials and equipment cost to help clear the roads. And horribly, at least two people who left their homes this morning will never return. And here’s something to consider: There were plenty of fall injuries this morning with broken arms, legs, and hips that will take weeks of recovery.

This morning, east Tennessee had nature’s form of a sneak attack. The streets had been chilled with very low temperatures in the past few days. Then this morning the air temperature hovered around 28 to 30 degrees- just right for ice. The kind of ice that forms in the tiny crevices of the pavement so that it doesn’t make a tell-tale reflection. It’s the kind of ice that can quickly make a road slicker than snot on a Popsicle. And driver’s won’t know it until they look out the windshield and see the headlights of the car driving behind them, and oncoming traffic in their rear view mirror.

The large number of recent bank holdups in Knoxville is enough to worry anybody in the teller business. Customers’ deposits are federally insured, so they don’t lose anything. Sooner or later, someone working at a bank is going to get hurt during a holdup. The odds of that happening increase with each new stick-up.

Word has apparently leaked onto the street about which banks use dye packs and which ones don’t. Dye packs are explosive devices hidden in what is called “bait money” that a teller can stuff into a robber’s bag. I don’t exactly know their inner workings, except that the charge is timed to go off in a certain amount of time, allowing for the robber to be out of the bank when the explosive charge sends money flying, and dye all over the crook.

They are a sight to see sometimes. Once, I reported on a bank holdup where the dye pack went off inside a speeding car, sending purple bills all over the street in front of some very surprised pedestrians. One FBI man I knew says he caught a robber that had concealed his loot in an inside jacket pocket. When the dye pack went off, it burned the robber to his ribs.

I understand that dye packs are expensive. And I can imagine what would happen if one were accidentally armed inside a bank. But it seems to me that some financial institutions might have to make a corporate decision to take some active steps to deter holdups. That might include armed guards inside or outside of the bank.

One of the most effective deterents I have ever seen was the stake-out squad. Undercover or concealed officers would stay at a vulnerable location, and confront the robber once they were away from innocent people who might be in the line of fire. Nothing like TV news pictures of a dead robber with currency scattered all around his body to convey the thought that taking other people’s possessions might not be a good idea.

Maybe it’s desparate finances pushing the increase. But my best bet is that it’s the old problem of drug addiction. Or maybe plain-old greed.

Meanwhile, I think I will stick to direct deposit and the drive-thru.