Panic Buttons
A silent worn button: responders get the alert and its location in under 2 seconds
Explore Panic ButtonsPanic Button for Banks, Credit Unions, and Branch Staff
Banks must have a robbery alarm: federal rules require every federally insured bank to keep an alarm or other device that promptly alerts law enforcement to a robbery. Positive Proof adds a silent button each staff member wears, so the button moves with the person instead of staying under one counter. Designated responders get the alert, and where it was pressed, in under 2 seconds.
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THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION ENVIRONMENT
Why Bank Alarm Systems Leave Tellers Exposed When It Matters Most
Federally insured banks work under a federal security rule. Under the Bank Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 1882), the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC each require the banks they supervise to designate a security officer, keep a written security program for every banking office, and have at minimum an alarm system or other appropriate device for promptly notifying law enforcement of a robbery or burglary. Federally insured credit unions keep a written security program under the NCUA's own rule (12 CFR 748.0).
A hold-up button under the teller counter protects a position, not a person. A loan officer in a private office, a universal banker on the floor, or an employee opening the branch alone can be steps away from the nearest fixed button, and reaching for it may be seen. A worn button travels with the person, and a press is not visible to a customer standing in front of them. After-hours vault access, armored car deliveries, and safe deposit room visits can leave a staff member with few colleagues nearby.
The rule leaves the choice of devices to the bank. Beyond the minimum list, the security officer decides which other devices are appropriate, weighing local crime, the cash exposed, the distance to law enforcement, cost, the other measures in place and the building itself, and reports at least once a year to the board on how the program is working. A worn duress button is one of those choices, and no product makes a bank compliant on its own.
After-hours vault access, armored car deliveries, and safe deposit operations create high-risk windows outside normal branch hours when staff have limited backup
A fixed hold-up button protects one position. Staff who move between the teller line, private offices and the vault need a button that moves with them
Federal rules require a written security program for each banking office, testing and maintenance of security devices, staff training, and a security officer report to the board at least once a year
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Scenarios That Drive Branch Security Decisions
Situations where a fixed alarm can leave a staff member without a safe way to call for help.
POSITIVE PROOF FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Three Solutions Built for Branch and Vault Security
One platform protects branch staff with silent duress alerts, monitors the doors you choose in real time, and checks in contractors and visitors.
What Positive Proof Delivers for Financial Institution Security
Four outcome areas for bank security officers, branch managers, and compliance teams.
2 Sec
Alert-to-Responder Time
25+
Years in Security
96–98%
Staff Report Feeling Safer After Deployment
See How a Silent Button Works in Your Branch
Watch a press reach responders with its location, and ask how anchors would be placed in your branch, vault and safe deposit area. Placement is planned from your floor plans.
Request a DemoCommon Questions About Panic Buttons for Banks and Credit Unions
Answers for branch managers, security officers, and compliance teams evaluating staff duress systems.
Banks must have a robbery alarm, though not necessarily a panic button. Under the Bank Protection Act, the federal banking agencies require every bank they supervise to have, at a minimum, an alarm system or other appropriate device for promptly notifying the nearest responsible law enforcement officers of an attempted or perpetrated robbery or burglary. The rules do not name a type of button and do not require one to be worn. Positive Proof adds a silent button each staff member wears, so a person can call for help away from a fixed button.
Yes. A silent hold-up alarm signals for help without making a sound in the branch. Cleveland's police order on silent hold-up alarms at financial institutions, for example, tells responding officers not to announce their arrival with lights or sirens. The federal rule requires a device that promptly notifies law enforcement; it does not say the alarm must be silent. The Positive Proof badge is silent: it makes no sound, and the wearer sees one blink confirming the press was sent.
The Bank Protection Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1882) directs the federal banking agencies to set minimum security standards. Their rules (12 CFR Part 326 for the FDIC, 12 CFR 208.61 for the Federal Reserve, 12 CFR Parts 21 and 168 for the OCC) require the bank's board to designate a security officer who develops and administers a written security program for each banking office. The program must cover opening and closing procedures, procedures that help identify offenders, initial and periodic staff training, and the selection, testing, operation and maintenance of security devices. The minimum devices are a means of protecting cash, such as a vault, safe or other secure space; lighting for the area around the vault during the hours of darkness, if the vault is visible from outside; tamper-resistant locks on exterior doors and on exterior windows that may be opened; and an alarm system or other appropriate device for promptly notifying law enforcement of a robbery or burglary. The security officer reports to the board at least once a year. The rules do not name a type of panic button.
Both names describe a device a staff member triggers to call for help during a robbery. The federal rule itself names neither: it says "an alarm system or other appropriate device." A fixed hold-up button stays at one position. A worn panic button goes wherever the employee goes.
It depends on where the anchors are placed, so test it. Positive Proof plans anchor placement from the branch floor plan, room by room, and a test press is made in every area at installation. The badge sends to those anchors rather than to the employee's phone, so staff need no personal phone. Ask for a test press inside your vault and safe deposit room before you rely on the button there.
No, credit unions follow a different rule. The Bank Protection Act's rules cover banks and savings associations supervised by the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC. Federally insured credit unions, federal and state chartered, follow NCUA's rule (12 CFR 748.0): a written security program, developed within 90 days of insurance, designed to protect each office from robberies, burglaries, larcenies and embezzlement and to help identify the people who commit them. That rule does not list minimum devices or require a designated security officer, and each credit union certifies its compliance every year. The same silent worn button works in a credit union branch.
Yes, alongside them. Positive Proof can run beside the hold-up alarm your security program already lists, and nothing connects to the bank's network: alerts leave the branch over the system's own cellular gateway, which switches carriers if one goes down. Alerts reach designated responders by text, email and radio, and 911 dispatch when you enable it. Integrations with access control or cameras are made by API or webhook, scoped for each deployment and confirmed during the demo.
For contractors and vendors who enter restricted areas, Positive Proof visitor management checks each visitor in, screens them against a sex offender database and your own watchlist, can print a badge with their photo from an ID or webcam, shows who is on site and why, and keeps a visitor log.
Give Every Branch Employee a Silent Way to Call for Help
One provider for silent duress buttons, door monitoring, and visitor check-in. Bring a floor plan to the demo and ask for a test press in your vault.
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