Security Tight as Van Nuys Bank Reopens

From the front it looked like any other bank branch with customers filing in and out, but it was a different story Thursday around back of the Great Western Bank on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Two plainclothes security officers, perched on stools, and a uniformed guard kept a careful watch over the branch’s rear parking lot. Just behind the men, a shattered glass window had been boarded up near a metal-wrapped concrete column that had been punctured by three bullets.

The reminders of Tuesday’s shootout, which left a robber dead and an accomplice seriously wounded, disturbed but did not deter customers such as Leah Davidge, who said she has conducted business at the same bank for 35 years.

“It used to be really nice here,” said Davidge as she climbed into her sedan after making a deposit. “But something has changed, and I’m not too happy about it either.”

Davidge’s sentiments were echoed by other customers on the bank’s first day back in business. The bank closed after Tuesday’s gunfight, which erupted when two retired law enforcement officers working as undercover guards foiled a robbery attempt by five men, three of whom escaped.

Security remained tight Thursday, with a uniformed guard in front of the bank in addition to the three men standing watch out back.

Customers said they were surprised to learn that banks employed plainclothes guards.

Knowledge of their presence eased the concerns of customers, some of whom slowly pulled into the bank’s parking lot trying to figure out whether the branch had reopened. As the customers got out of their cars, they walked past the bullet-pocked column and the boarded-up window without giving them a second glance.

Los Angeles is, after all, the bank robbery capital of the world, and that fact was not lost on residents who say they have grown all too accustomed to gunmen taking over their neighborhood banks. Customer Danial Naim said he did not hesitate to do business at the Great Western branch, despite the fact that his father was inside the bank Tuesday when the shooting began outside.

“It happens at every bank,” Naim said with a shrug.

What bothered customer Esther Carillo was the feeling that the San Fernando Valley is increasingly becoming the hub of the city’s bank violence, pointing to the North Hollywood shootout in February, in which two bandits with automatic weapons fought a ferocious battle with police before being killed.

“It’s scary because you just never know anymore when they’re going to hurt you,” said the 37-year-old Van Nuys resident. “And it seems like there’s more robberies here, especially in Van Nuys and Sepulveda.”

Actually, in the first six months of this year, the number of bank robberies in the Valley dropped 33% to 58, compared to the first six months of last year, and the number of violent “takeover” robberies declined 50%, to 12.

Encino resident Sandra Rose said the only thing that surprised her about Tuesday’s foiled robbery is that it didn’t take place at the Bank of America next door, “because Bank of America always seems to be getting hit.”

It became clear Thursday that bank violence has crept into the public consciousness as never before, with thoughts and images of police officers engaged in gunfights seared into the minds of Los Angeles residents like Rose.

“I’m originally from Chicago and I don’t think I ever even heard or thought about bank robberies until I moved here eight years ago,” Rose said. “It really makes you think about moving away from the area.”

Bank officials chose to keep it closed on Wednesday on the advice of a psychiatrist who thought it would be best for the bank’s employees.

Police are still seeking the three men who escaped.