Almost Seventy-One

Abusive Surveillance and Invasion of Personal Privacy and Freedom.

[box] How much personal privacy and freedom are we willing to give up in this increasingly militarized, “Big Brother is Watching You” world?   Will going to a bank or store soon be like air travel? An individual should be able to walk about, go into a store, bank or retail outlet and not have to identify themselves or have his or her image recorded without his or her consent.[/box]

Don’t walk into the Regions Bank in Winter Park, Florida wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses along with whatever else you choose to wear. A rude teller will ask you to remove the hat and glasses and refuse to take your money until you do so.  You may be offered the option to turn your cap around backwards. Not sure if you can take the cap off and keep wearing the sunglasses or take the sunglasses off and not turn the hat around. So far it’s only  hats and glasses that are problematic. My concern  goes beyond the mere inconvenience of removing clothing or eye glasses.  Why  should ordinary people  be subject to treatment, as if they were suspected of being criminals, because of what they’re wearing; let alone as a customer in a bank or retail store? Why suddenly all the increased, so-called, security? Is everyday life going to be like air travel? How much data do corporations need about our  activities and whereabouts? When you look closely you may find corporations and businesses are gathering more information about you than the government ever does.

Dressed casually, golf type shirt and jeans I entered the Regions Bank Branch on Aloma Avenue in Winter Park, Florida to make a deposit, which is all I was carrying in my hand as I walked up to totally enclosed, bullet proof teller’s area. Perhaps it was my thinning, close-cropped, mostly silver beard that frightened the teller. There were no other customers in the bank; just two tellers behind the enclosure and a manager somewhere hidden away.

“You must remove your hat and sunglasses or turn your hat around backwards and remove the glasses,” or something like that is what I heard from the scowling teller. “Why do I have to do that,” I asked? “It’s the rules, the Sheriff’s department sign is there by entrance,” she whined.[box type=”info”] This is my local branch bank where the teller should say, “HI Mr. Martin, how can we help you today?” Not, “up against the wall, take off your hat and glasses, you might be a criminal today.”[/box]

I became irate. “This is profiling, harassment and invasion of privacy I said. I do not wish to remove my hat and glasses. Please process the deposit in your hand,” I stated firmly.

“I won’t process it until you remove your hat and glasses,” she demanded. “You have to remove them and keep them off,” she repeated after I took off my glasses and hat and then put them back on.

Meanwhile the other teller appeared in the space next to this teller. It was not the usual teller that I go to and have chatted with for years. I have previously spoken with the teller who was refusing to serve me until I removed my hat and glasses. She had to have seen me at the bank as a regular customer before. There was no pressing need for her to ask me to remove my hat and sunglasses and keep them off.

“Look this is absurd. I come to this branch all the time; you have my name on the deposit slip and my cash in your hand. I have no weapons or places I could conceal a weapon. I want the name of the manager and your name because I’m going to report this as customer harassment. This is profiling me because I’m wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. I need the hat to protect my head and the glasses to see and to protect my eyes, especially the right eye which is recovering from detached retina surgery. “

Katie Tilley the teller would not process my deposit. I took off my hat and sunglasses and she finally processed the transaction. By this time Elizabeth Velez, Assistant Vice President, Branch Manager appeared from her lair, wherever that might have been in the lobby.

We went through all the same conversation I had already been through with Tilley the Teller.

“You know I’ve been coming to this bank for at least five years, no one has ever asked me to take off my hat or my sunglasses. Tilley is harassing me, because of some obscure policy and perhaps because of the way I look ethnically. I have no recourse but to strongly consider closing my three accounts with this bank”

I got my deposit receipt and left the bank, promising to never return and that I would be reporting this to the bank as having been harassed by the tellers and the Branch Manager. Why, I thought, was I upset over this incident?

For me the bottom line is that banks do not have the right to invade their customer’s privacy by forcing them to remove their hats and glasses when they come into the bank. What’s next a “pat down,” “strip search” or “body scan?” This is an infringement on our freedom to wear what we feel like wearing when going to the bank. In the name of “security” we gave up personal space and privacy for air travel.  Since that time businesses, corporations, banks and government agencies have been chipping away at individual privacy. When did we sign off on having our every move under surveillance and recorded?  Next the convenient store/gas station will ask us to remove our hats and sunglasses so they can get a better recording.  All for “our protection.”

Yes I do have the right to take my business elsewhere, but there is a growing trend amongst banks, and other retail establishments to put so-called security measures into place that infringe on the privacy of the customer. The only reason to remove the hat and glasses is so that the bank’s surveillance cameras can record your image without your permission. An individual should be able to walk about, go into a store, bank or retail outlet and not have to identify himself or have his image recorded without his consent. I don’t remember signing a release form to Regions Bank saying they could record my image for any reason.

I sent a complaint to the customer service contact address on the Regions Bank Website. Saying much of what I’ve written here. The reply from Alicia, Customer Service Representative, was predictable. “The bank policy simply provides you with greater protection when visiting a branch location… …helps law enforcement officials identify the offending party… “ I was the only customer in the bank and I was making a simple deposit to a teller, enclosed in bulletproof enclosure. Taking off my hat and sunglasses does not protect me from a bank robber or consumer  fraud or was  I the “offender.”

“If someone tried to impersonate you with your driver’s license, the teller could better compare you with your picture.” Okay, I might agree, if I was unknown to the teller and was asked to present an ID to cash a check or make a withdrawal. My wearing of a hat and sunglasses was of no concern to my making a small cash deposit to my personal checking account. Dressed as I was, it was not possible I was concealing anything. This is my local branch bank where the teller should say, “HI Mr. Martin, how can we help you today?” Not, “take off your hat and glasses, you might be a criminal today.”

Regions Bank Policy is customer harassment. It is an excuse to profile certain individuals who the bank deems suspicious. It has nothing to do with customer protection. The only other place I’ve experienced this is in banks in Costa Rica, where everyone entering the bank goes through a metal detector, may be searched and must take off sunglasses and at least turn a hat with a brim backward. Is this what’s next for Regions Bank? Is this what’s coming to a Bank or Big Box store near you? Don’t be surprised if you find yourself being told you can’t wear a hat and sunglasses in Costco or Target next.

J R Martin