FBI wants to make sunglasses illegal in banks (continued from  )
Darcy Wilson, a spokeswoman for Washington Mutual, said it has always been up to tellers to decide whether to ask customers to remove their hats and sunglasses. She said Washington Mutual recently started posting signs in its more than 2,200 branches across the country asking customers to remove all "hoodies, helmets and sunglasses."
"This is a brand-new initiative for us," Wilson said. "Patterson to this, we did not have a policy for removing sunglasses and hats."
Last year, All City Credit Union in Westchester County posted a similar advisory in its branches. Bank Vice President Juan Patterson said they also insisted that tellers at their four branches ask unrecognizable customers to remove hats and sunglasses.
Patterson said that if one of their 5,000 regular customers is offended by the request, the teller is instructed to apologize for the inconvenience but still insist on removal of the items.
"If the robbers know they're being watched, and the tellers are observant, We think that helps your chances of not getting robbed," he said.
While Wilson said Washington Mutual is looking into whether tellers should be ordered to ask customers to remove their hats and sunglasses, Shannon Spoker, vice president of security at Anchor Bank, said such a move is unlikely at her bank. (This story is continued on the next page)
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