Bank employees in NYC told to 'dress down' to avoid becoming a target for crime: Report

Bank of America has reportedly advised its New York City staffers to "dress down" in an effort to avoid becoming a target for robberies or violent crimes, the New York Post reports.

The purported advice comes as lawlessness is on the rise in the Democrat-controlled city.

What are the details?

The Post's Lydia Moynihan explained that senior executives at the company have "quietly encouraged" some of the company's junior employees to "dress down" in order to "attract less attention" while traversing the city to Bank of America's tower at 1 Bryant Park.

"These execs have told their staffers that dressing up, or wearing anything with a Bank of America logo, could make them a target," Moynihan wrote. "One bank employee told [the New York Post's] On the Money he is on high alert after he spotted someone with a knife near the office during a recent trek to the Manhattan workplace."

Another top executive at an unnamed company has also begun carrying a Taser on his commute to his midtown office, and a Wall Street source who works downtown told the outlet that safety has been a frequent topic of conversation on the floor over the past several months.

"Some people I work with have been accosted," the source said. "I'd say it's becoming frequent, if not common. There's probably a dozen incidents that I saw, or have been involved in."

Bank of America declined to comment on the story.

Other employees hope that former NYPD officer and mayor-elect Eric Adams will "take a hard line" when he comes into office.

"But it's almost like he can't get here soon enough to restore law and order," another Wall Street executive told the outlet.

Ronn Torossian, CEO of public relations firm 5WPR, told the outlet that there is a need to make the streets safer in order for people to return to full-time, in-office work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Undoubtedly, part of getting people back to the office in NYC is about making the streets and subways safer,” Torossian said. “I would venture less than 50 percent of people are back to the office full-time — and I don’t know if that ever changes in NYC.”