MERRIFIELD, Va. — Navy FCU is reviewing its implementation of the common "no hats, no hoods, no sunglasses" security policy after an incident with a Muslim member brought the policy under fire.
Navy Federal put the policy-one used by a number of banks and credit unions-in place last December, said spokesperson Jennifer Sadler, so that employees can "positively identify members in the branch offices and have a full view of their face, to deter robberies and for identity theft purposes."
Flap Over Internal Memo
According to the Washington Post, a recent internal Navy Fed memo told employees not to approach anyone wearing hats, hoods or sunglasses while the policy is being re-evaluated, but while Navy FCU Security VP Tom Lyons acknowledged a memo informing employees that the policy is under review, employees were not told to stop enforcing it. Lyons declined to provide CU Journal with a copy of the memo but said the policy remains in place during the review. Signage informing members of the policy also remains up in the CU's branches, he said.
"The program is not going away, it's intact in the branches, the application of the program is what is being reviewed," he added. "We are looking at various applications of the program to see if we should tweak it, but the program is still in place."
With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, Navy Federal is also re-emphasizing training to ensure that employees exercise good judgment and sensitivity in implementing this new security policy, Sadler added. "We allow accommodations for religious and cultural attire, as well as medical conditions."
The credit union apologized to the Muslim woman involved in the recent incident and Sadler emphasized that the employee followed the wrong procedure. She said that a headscarf, and even more covering that would obscure the face, would never prevent Navy Federal from serving its members. In such a case, employees would "make every effort to ID them in the best possible way that they could and serve them."
"Our membership as a whole has been very understanding with the policy," Sadler added. "Once we explained the purpose they are totally understanding and supportive of it."
But Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, took issue with the policy in general, arguing its concept is flawed.
A Common Sense Thing
"A headscarf does not prevent someone from being identified. It's not like a baseball cap that covers the face from a certain angle," he contended. "If you don't change policy or amend, it will happen again and it did happen again. All the policy has to state is that if you can't see someone's face then you can take action. It's just a common sense thing."
According to Hooper, the way Navy Federal's policy was executed in the past would not only cause disruption for female Muslim members but also those of other religions and those with medical conditions such as cancer who prefer to cover their heads while undergoing chemotherapy. So when putting together security policies like the one the $36-billion credit union and a number of other institutions have, credit unions should seek legal advice from their attorneys, urged CUNA Mutual risk management product expert Vince Wagner.
Apply Policies Differently
CUs could also apply policies differently based on the situation, he said. In one case members could come into a branch and a representative greets them and asks them to remove the offending articles and if they refuse simply watch them more closely while they are serviced. Staffers could also exercise the option of having the member do business at a specific teller window to better keep track of that individual.
The biggest key of all is to simply know your membership and know the communities in which you have branches.
"A basic tenant when you are talking about robbery deterrence is know where you are at," said Wagner.
Hooper urged credit unions to put policies in place that simply make sense and accomplish the goal of providing more security in branches without causing disruption for both members and employees
"The bottom line is being able to see a person's face clearly, and that it is not obscured from the personnel or the security cameras. Somebody with bangs that covers half of [his or her] face is more of a security issue than somebody with a headscarf," he said. "We recognize the motivation behind [the policy] but it doesn't work in practice, at least not the way it's been implemented so far."
