LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith on Tuesday called for the installation of a PIN “duress code” system at bank ATMs, saying such a system might have saved the life of a teen murdered after a robbery attempt July 24.
Smith said at least one software manufacturer has developed such a system, in which an automated teller machine customer can alert authorities to trouble by having an emergency code embedded in the card. Under the system Smith described, a customer can enter the card’s PIN number in reverse order. The cash still would be disbursed, so as not to alert the robber, but police could be notified covertly that a robbery was in progress and where.
Such a system would cost banks about $25 per machine to install, said Smith, whose proposal was sent to the council’s Public Safety Committee for study.
