Contents
Movies. Books. Comics. Art. Music (looking at you, Bonnie Tyler). TV shows. It feels like everywhere we look, heroes are upheld as the pinnacle of humanity. Heroes save the hour, the day, the planet. They rescue the damsel in distress or the bumbling scientist. If a pedestrian or a bank or a jewellery store is being robbed, they can’t just stand idly by, dammit, they are needed! And all-too-often, regular everyday people are expected to be heroes. The cashier is expected to valiantly protect their wares, or a customer is expected to chase a robber out of the store and theatrically apprehend them before the police arrive.
And that all sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?
But it’s not very realistic.
While society seems intent on insisting that situations involving a criminal should also involve an equally heroic bystander or employee, in reality, intervening or not following what the person committing the robbery says just means that people are likely to get hurt, or worse, killed.
In reality, a robbery is no time to be a hero.
Unfortunately, if you work at a business with a high cash flow, a retail outlet or somewhere with goods that are high value and can be difficult to obtain there’s no way of guaranteeing that a robbery won’t be committed against your workplace, despite how many security measures are in place. It’s a fact of life that you may experience a robbery situation at some point in your career. That’s why it’s important that you understand what to do should a robbery situation occur and know that behaving correctly can lead to a safe outcome.
The Armed Robbery Safety course is a 35-minute course that features engaging animations, updated imagery and new illustrations. It contains information about what can be done to reduce the risk of a robbery, case study activities to reinforce what you can do in the event of a robbery to stay safe, as well as examples of what can be done after a robbery to ensure your welfare and the welfare of the people around you. This course also emphasizes that robbery situations affect people differently, and that there is no shame in asking for help if someone who has been in a robbery situation is feeling, amongst other things, depressed, anxious, guilty or experiences flashbacks. We’ve also added a downloadable poster that can be placed somewhere visible for staff that contains the ‘golden rules’ of armed robbery safety: to always comply with an offender’s demands, and to never chase an offender after a robbery.
You can chase down the training if you like, but there's no need as we've made it easy for you, it's simply a click away.
