First Amendment Auditors: Who Are They? What Do They Want? How Should You Respond?
August 19, 2026
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First Amendment Auditors are individuals who attempt to enter and remain on city or public property to record your employees, officials, and operations, or to engage in other expressive conduct. They claim to be testing your knowledge of First Amendment rights and are well known for directly confronting and recording law enforcement officers on duty. Their goal is to record how your employees respond to their recording and to see if you violate their first amendment rights. They often engage in verbal tactics to “rattle,” “bait,” “anger,” or “surprise” your employee or official to illicit a “recordable response.” They record from areas that are publicly accessible and any action taken by your employee to challenge or prevent them from recording may become grounds for a lawsuit and/or the video may be placed on YouTube for public viewing. They have challenged employees at banks, restaurants, city halls, and government facilities among other locations.
This session provides common sense guidelines on how to properly respond to these frustrating and potentially volatile confrontations.
Who Should Attend:
- Branch Mangers
- Assistant Branch Mangers
- Management Staff
- Security Officers
- Anyone who the bank would assign to go outside to address a person taking pictures or movies of your bank.
Presenters:
Barry Thompson
Barry Thompson is a nationally recognized speaker, consultant, and former banker with over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. His extensive career includes 22 years in the banking sector, during which he held senior leadership roles before founding Thompson Consulting Group, LLC. Through his consulting firm, Barry helps financial institutions enhance their competitive edge by specializing in risk management and security solutions.
Throughout his banking career, Barry served in critical roles such as Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Compliance Officer, and Security Officer. His responsibilities spanned operations, accounting, investments, mortgage processing, and special projects. Notably, he collaborated with architects and contractors to redesign and remodel institutional facilities. Additionally, Barry served as President of a loan workout company, where his leadership helped his bank recover from a significant housing development loss.
Barry’s expertise in security and risk management is unparalleled. As a security officer, he handled over 900 security cases and investigated embezzlement, identity fraud, check kiting, and other criminal activities targeting financial institutions. His work has involved investigations and prosecutions at the federal, state, and local levels. Barry has testified as an expert witness in grand juries, county courts, bankruptcy courts, family courts, and even the New York State Supreme Court.
With his depth of knowledge and practical experience, Barry is a sought-after speaker who delivers insightful guidance to financial professionals across the country.
August 19, 2026