By Evan Sparks
Imagine this scenario: Someone arrives at your branch and begins walking up and down on the sidewalk in front of it. His iPhone is out and he’s video recording every customer and employee who comes in or out — and he stays there for hours.
Perhaps one or two of your bankers go out to talk to him — ask some questions and gently try to get the individual to stop recording. He responds with suspicious questions: “So, what kind of vault do you have? What are the procedures for how you access it?”
He won’t leave, and the suspicious questions trigger threat instincts. Police are called, and then that interaction is filmed.
The iPhone wielder is quite likely a self-proclaimed “First Amendment auditor,” and the goal is to test the limits of laws permitting filming from public places like sidewalks. For some auditors, the true goal is to goad police into arresting them — and thus “fail” their “audit.”
The practice started several years ago, partly as an adjunct to the movement to promote police accountability and fueled by the ubiquity of smartphones and cheap data. Auditors would film police arrests or traffic stops, or perhaps enter public facilities like police stations, post offices or town halls trying to capture public officials crossing legal lines.
Auditors target banks
Over the past several months, one auditor has pivoted from targeting public facilities to targeting banks, particularly in Missouri and Kansas. He has tens of thousands of followers on YouTube, where he posts edited versions of his encounters that get hundreds of thousands of views. (I’m not going to link to the channel because I don’t want to draw any further attention to this auditor, whose videos are monetized by YouTube and thus generate income from advertising every time they’re viewed.) Other auditors’ videos of banks have appeared as well.
The videos usually follow a script like the one I outlined above: Noticeable video recording over a period of several hours triggers a bank employee to come out and confront the auditor. Usually, the banker asks why he’s filming and then politely ask him to stop filming, either for security purposes or for client comfort. The auditor asks provocative questions designed to bait the bankers into calling police or getting more confrontational.
One banker — who asked an auditor to stop filming and move along — was identified by YouTube commenters and received voicemail death threats. (Because of threats to the bankers, I have granted anonymity to those participating.) Another bank received so many threatening phone calls after the auditor posted the video, that the branch had to shut down its phone system. The auditor may also use sexist slurs like “Karen” to describe the bank employees who ask him to stop.
‘Ignore them’
“It runs against all our training, but the best thing to do is ignore them,” says a banker whose institution was targeted.
One bank’s senior management reminded employees that video recording from streets or public sidewalks is legal. “These people are hoping to provoke a reaction; they are hoping that we will engage with them,” they said in a memo to employees across the branch network. “They are looking for a fight; they want us to call the police; let’s not give them what they want!” To protect the privacy of employees and customers, banks may choose to close blinds and ensure that computer monitors are not visible from the street or sidewalk.
The line in this case is literally bank property — bank-owned parking lots, drive-throughs, or interiors of branches. If an auditor trespasses, the branch manager advises the employees to state a simple message asking the auditor to leave, then walk away and activate the security plan. Be mindful of wearing name tags in the presence of the auditor that might reveal a full name or other personal information.
As for those threatening phone calls, bankers should keep in mind that they may be recorded by the caller. Employees are advised simply to take a caller’s name and number and say they will forward it to the appropriate party — not to get into a conversation.
Incentives for provocation
One can find more recent examples online of First Amendment audits targeting banks of all sizes — and the problem may grow, since auditors often monetize their videos with YouTube advertising. The most confrontational videos attract the most views — and thus generate the most money for the auditors.
“They want this to escalate, and you don’t know that,” says one banker who was filmed by an auditor and threatened by members of the public. “We’re not used to people who want to escalate. They’re here to antagonize.”
