Hollywood makes covert entry into bank vaults appear possible these days if you have sophisticated equipment, powerful silent drills, celebrity criminal teams like Oceans Eleven (or 12, 13, 14) to cover all of the bases, and a few diversions to keep the cops away or diverted. Seems simple enough if you plan it well, doesn’t it? When they can’t defeat the sophisticated lock mechanisms on the doors they drill in through the floor or through a wall that seems to be unprotected.
So if you have the idea that drilling bank vaults is doable ask the boys that are tearing down the Bibb County Probate Court Annex building. Built in 1968, according to public records, it was the home of The Peoples Bank & Trust Company until the late 1990’s when it became the property of the Bibb County Public Building Authority and home of the Probate Court and the Tax Collector/Assessor. The Probate Court used the bank vaults for record storage. Many people who walked in to the Probate Court record room for the past 20 years did not realize they were inside of a former bank vault.
Cottondale Excavating started demolition of the Probate Annex after Columbus Day. Work moved quickly until they hit the bank vaults. Then the track hoe they were using proved useless. So they brought in a trackhoe equipped with a hammer to break up the concrete.
After a full day of hammering on the vault, and making little progress, they parked the trackhoe/hammer #1 and sent for a bigger hammer. Trackhoe/hammer #2 arrived a couple of days later. After another full day of hammering on the vault we are now down to the bank vault pictured above. This thing is tougher than the pillboxes on the beach heads of Normandy.
Most of the remaining building, including the partial basement has been cleared away. The objective is to clear all of the concrete from the site and take the ground down to parking lot level and pave the entire parking area for public use in front of the new building.
So if you are planning a bank job. I would think again if drilling thru a wall or a floor is in your plan. Unless you team up with these guys. In that case the world can be your oyster.
