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Kelly To City Council, Banks: Bullet Proof Barriers Will Prevent Robberies

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – After the holiday bandit struck more than half a dozen times since December, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is renewing his push for banks to install bullet proof partitions around tellers.

"We believe these so called bandit barriers are a determent to bank robberies, and I know there's been some resistance in the City Council," Kelly said.

LISTEN: WCBS 880's Sean Adams on Kelly's push for bank barriers

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Two years ago, the City Council refused to mandate the barriers.

"There was a concern that they were unattractive. They would scare customers off," Kelly said.

Currently, all Chase Banks have the barriers and Kelly said that the major crimes unit actually goes from bank to bank and urges them to install partitions.

"We think that every bank should have them and all the way up to the ceiling," he said. "It gives the tellers the ability to walk away."

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