To the bank with private guards in Chile: crime gives wings to the security business

Two people walk outside the headquarters of a BBVA bank branch in Santiago de Chile. Cristobal Olivares (Bloomberg)

Chilean engineer José Reyes, 42, of medium build and a resident of the downtown Santiago municipality, paid $310 at the end of last year for a car to pick him up at his home and two unarmed bodyguards to accompany him to withdraw about $10,000 from the bank. .

He made the decision, he comments by phone, after two acquaintances were robbed when leaving a bank branch, a criminal phenomenon where the attackers

a person inside the office and, once he leaves, they violently take his money .

This crime is not new, but the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI) explains that it has increased -to record numbers- and has become more complex since organized gangs practice it.

The Government of Gabriel Boric has set off the alarm at the rise of "bank escorts" because there is no law that specifically regulates them.

The Administration's commitment is to carry out a Private Security Law in 2023 and, meanwhile, strengthen the control of those who offer these services.

Reyes, who works as head of prevention for a plastics company, hired the services of the security company As Group.

César Bustos, general manager of the brand, comments that in 2019 only 18 clients hired the bank escort service.

In 2020, 48 people did it;

in 2021, 200;

and in 2022, 245. At the same time, the crime called "exiting a bank" has also increased.

Between 2017 and 2021, the annual average was 400 cases.

In September 2022 the figure already exceeded 500, according to the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office.

Deputy Commissioner Joel Soto of the North Central Robbery Investigation Brigade explains over the phone that it is a highly desired crime among thieves because of how easy it is to obtain large sums of money.

He clarifies that it is not an imported crime, but that the way in which it operates has changed.

“Before, the subject followed the victim, punctured the tire of his car, offered him help and stole from him.

It was a theft.

Now it is a crime with the use of weapons, violence, operated by gangs”, affirms Soto.

Bustos, from As Group, points out that before the social outbreak of October 2019, the profile of the escort clients were contractors from the most affluent sectors of Santiago who at the end and beginning of the month went to the bank to withdraw the salaries of a company .

He now says that they request their services every day of the month and in the most popular parts of the capital, such as the municipalities of San Miguel, Pudahuel or Colina.

The most basic service costs about $125 and consists of an escort who accompanies the client on foot.

The most expensive is 750 dollars, where three escorts and three vehicles participate.

It has a prior review of the bank branch, different transit routes depending on the risk,

Defense Security works differently.

This company dresses its escorts as similar as possible to the social environment where the bank is located.

Marco Price, general manager of the company, insists that you should not have a "Hollywood" vision

of the escorts

“They are not armed bodyguards who enter into a fight against several and eliminate 15. In my company they are people who go unarmed and who work based on intelligence and handling of the evasion procedure, knowing where to go, at what time, the most vulnerable points,” he says by phone.

99% of the more than 200 bodyguards that As Group has are former agents of the Armed Forces, according to information provided by Bustos.

Ex-military personnel, like ex-police officers, have the right to bear arms.

“If the ex-agent is attacked during the procedure, he can use his weapon by the law of legitimate defense.

If they attack the escorted person, there is a legal vacuum that we have to discuss”, says Bustos.

An unregulated service

The Undersecretary for Crime Prevention, Eduardo Vergara, explains in writing that currently the activity of "private escorts" is not only unregulated, but also falls into a "market without regulations, which does not ensure any quality standard, nor training courses. training, or action protocols, or minimum requirements for those who act as escorts to provide security to those who hire them, which at the end of the day affects the safety of people.”

While they work to advance the processing of a Private Security Law, Vergara warns that they seek to strengthen the control of those who have permission to exercise private security, such as companies and security guards so that they "maintain in their work."

The Boric government is working on a robust security agenda, as detailed in EL PAÍS the undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.

Initiatives such as the Center for the Prevention of Homicide or the first policy against organized crime seek to reduce the feeling of citizen insecurity that has reached its highest level in two decades.

The rate of Crimes of Major Social Connotation increased by 44.6% in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the annual report of the Center for Crime Studies and Analysis of the Undersecretary for Crime Prevention published two weeks ago.

The crimes that registered the greatest increases were robbery with violence or intimidation (63.1%) – this category includes “exiting a bank” – surprise robbery (61.2%) and robbery in an uninhabited place (56.4%).

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