Originally posted by AmberLee

... a couple Sherriffs were gathering people ...

... there had been a robbery alarm tripped inside the bank...
They ... wanted to know what I'd seen.


They must do it differently on the Left Coast!

Around here most PDs CALL the Bank after an alarm drop;

the PD asks for a Ms. "So-and-so" - a CODE name that the Bank
employees KNOW is cop-talk for "We got an alarm from your bank -
IS everything OK?"

The Bank is suposed to reply with one of two coded messages:
#1 is "No, So-and-so isn't here today, can you call back tomorrow?
I have a 'customer' with me"
which means "We DO have a problem / robbery in progress!"

or #2 is "Yes, I'm Ms. So-and-so; I'm wearing (describes outfit);
and I'll meet an Officer out front."
Means everything is A-OK - but she HAS to go out to the patrol car (ALONE)
and explain what happened to trigger the alarm.

Works pretty well till a new teller answers the Cop Call and doesn't
know any of the codes!