NCJ Number
136294
Journal
Security Management Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1992) Pages: 33,34,40-41
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes security procedures at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
Abstract
The Philadelphia Mint has maintained its no-loss record by the use of elaborate and strategic security procedures. Screening is the primary strategy. Anything that comes into the building is screened, including people. Anything that goes out of the building is submitted to an X-ray machine or a metal detector, including the trash. Although movement within the facility is relatively unrestricted, all doors and vaults are alarmed. The vaults have combination locks that require two people to open. The manufacturing process for the coins has been designed with security in mind. Of particular concern is the safeguarding of the dies or molds. In any transport of the dies, the dies of the two sides of a particular coin denomination are always in separate carriers. The mint's no-loss record is largely due to the quality of its security personnel. Most of the security staff has been recruited from retired Philadelphia police officers. They receive an 8-week training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, a 2-week inhouse block of training for new personnel, and 32 hours of annual training for each officer thereafter.