tuesday, march 30, 200
news
the university daily kansan 5A
Senator touts safety technology
Legislature ignores reverse-PIN plan that will alert cops
By Matt Rodriguez
mrodriguez@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A senator is working to stop violent automated teller machine robberies with a Wichita murder case as his inspiration.
Amanda Kim Stairrett/Kansan
Convicted murderers Jonathan and Reginald Carr took their victims to an ATM in December 2001, where they were forced to make withdrawals.
The two gunmen later took all five of their victims to a soccer field, made them kneel down and shot them execution-style. One woman survived the shot to the back of her head and later testified in court against the Carr brothers.
Sen. Phillip Journey (R-Wichita), is working to stop these robberies using reverse Personal Identification Number software. Reverse-PIN technology works by alarming the police of a robbery when a victim types their PIN in reverse order, while still giving the robber the money they want.
Journey's bill would require any ATM in the state of Kansas to be designed and programmed to use this technology. The software is called ATM Safety PIN. Its inventor and patent holder, Joseph Zingher, offered Kansas the software for free in an effort to promote it, but despite his offer, Journey said the bill is still "dead as a doormail." The topic has been brought before Legislature but
system nurse Zingher, a former member of the U.S. Army Military police, said a PIN duress system is already in every ATM in America for the workers who load the machines, so he sees no reason why the consumers don't have access to this type of safety.
The technology is awaiting a trial state. Illinois passed a similar bill, but downplayed the wording to state that banks "may" offer the system rather than "have" to
hasn't grabbed any attention.
Journey said there was still time for the bill to take action.
Laura Leonard, Topeka senior, used the ATM in the Kansas Union yesterday. Sen.
Phillip Journey (R-Wichita) has proposed a new technology that will protect people at all Kansas ATMs. The reverse PIN technology allows a person getting robbed at an ATM to punch in the reverse of his or her PIN to alert police.
But the banking industry seems to have a different attitude toward the technology.
"We just don't think that the product will work," said Chuck Stones, senior vice president of the Kansas Bankers Association.
Some people speculate the effectiveness of the system. One question is if the new system will trigger false alarms or if a victim is capable of using the technology under pressure.
Stones said a person was in greater danger when the robber has a gun to their head, hesitating when trying to think of their PIN backward.
But Zingher said the existence of this technology created doubt in robbers' minds because they wouldn't know if the technology was being used. He said that right now there is no way of identifying who is being robbed at an ATM, once they've been taken hostage. This technology would help identify the victims after the robbery had taken place.
It would cost about $27 million to install the software in the 270,000 ATMs across the comn-
try, which breaks down to about $27 per ATM. Zingher said.
Bankers have said this estimate is far too low, but the cost is not the bank's first priority.
that was actually this inexpensive and offered the customers safety, it would be flooding the market," Stones said.
"If we could find something
— Edited by Louise Stauffer
WORLD
MADRID, Spain — A Spanish judge charged two more suspects in the Madrid bombings early today as the incoming Socialist government, facing international pressure over plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Two suspects charged in Madrid bombings
doubled its deployment to Afghanistan.
Aghmane Judge Juan del Olmo charged Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian, with mass killings in the March 11 bombings that left at least 190 people dead. The judge also charged Morrocan Hamed Ahmidam with collaborating with a terrorist organization.
At the same time, the judge released three suspects after
questioning. Of the 21 people arrested, 14 have been charged, six have been released, and one has not been publicly identified or appeared in court.
The charges stop short of a formal indictment but suggest that the court has strong evidence. They can be jailed up to two years while investigators gather more evidence.
Ahmidam's brother Said
Ahmidam was released, as were Mohammed Almallah Dabas, a Spanish citizen of Syrian origin and Fouad Almorabit, also from Morocco.
Spanish news agencies reported Monday that another bombing victim, a 49-year-old woman, had died in a Madrid hospital, bringing the death toll to 191.
The Associated Press
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