A number of business owners believe that the Police will conduct employee fraud investigations. While this may be true in some situations. The fact is that most Police Departments are busy. Their caseload is overwhelming at best. As a former Police Officer I can tell you that most crimes reported do not get investigated. There is simply not enough resources to handle it all.
If you go to the Police with a mostly unsolved situation of employee fraud they will most likely take a report but in most situations nothing more will be done. Even if they do open an investigation the fact is that very few Detectives know how to investigate employee fraud and theft. That is one of the reasons why the retail industry has Loss Prevention Departments. LP professionals specialize in these investigations. Good LP investigators can conduct the normal employee fraud or theft investigation in a matter of a few days.
Once the facts and information are pulled together an LP investigator will interview the subjects with the goal of obtaining a written admission. After the necessary elements of the investigation come together a presentation can then be made to the Police or Prosecutor.
The clothing alarm tag is one of the hottest inventions to protecting retail merchandise. These tags come in many varieties however; the basic concept is that a very hard plastic tag is placed on a piece of clothing. Tags can only be removed by store personal at the point of sale.
Clothing alarm tags normally are used in conjunction with an Electronic Article Surveillance System (EAS) such as Checkpoint. If a shoplifter attempts to steal the item it causes an alarm on the EAS system alerting store personnel.
Clothing alarm tags containing vials of permanent ink or dye are also widely used. This type of tag is called “product denial”. Shoplifters that attempt to forcefully remove the tag cause pressurized glass vials to break and spread ink on the item, ruining it. Ink tags can also be used with an EAS system.
Other clothing alarm tags are constructed with built in alarm sounders. An aircraft cable is looped through expensive coats such as leather jackets. When a shoplifter tries to cut the cable or force the tag open the built in siren goes off. This type of tag is also routinely used with an EAS system.
Employee theft investigations must be initiated whenever you suspect employee theft. I have seen a large amount of business owners and managers that hesitate or bury their heads in the sand and act as if theft is not occurring. For years now the University of Florida study has routinely shown that employee theft accounts for approximately 48% of company losses.
If not addressed employee theft will continue and grow. If the employee has gotten away with it one time they most likely will continue to steal. Businesses that do not attack the issue will not prosper. I have even seen businesses tolerate employee theft because they do not want to lose a “trusted or important” employee. That begs the question, how trusted or important is the person who is stealing from the very company that pays them?
Leaving this person in place is business suicide. We have recently conducting employee theft investigation of a person who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and was not terminated because the company owner was afraid to let this “important” person go.
Nobody is that important where employee theft should be ignored. Employee theft investigations are normally a fast simple investigation. Go to the police? No, most law enforcement agencies do not have the experience, time or even desire to do a proper investigation of this type. Use an experienced LP Investigator.
More information on employee theft investigation or call 1.770.426.0547
A number of business owners believe that the Police will conduct employee fraud investigations. While this may be true in some situations. The fact is that most Police Departments are busy. Their caseload is overwhelming at best. As a former Police Officer I can tell you that most crimes reported do not get investigated. There is simply not enough resources to handle it all.
If you go to the Police with a mostly unsolved situation of employee fraud they will most likely take a report but in most situations nothing more will be done. Even if they do open an investigation the fact is that very few Detectives know how to investigate employee fraud and theft. That is one of the reasons why the retail industry has Loss Prevention Departments. LP professionals specialize in these investigations. Good LP investigators can conduct the normal employee fraud or theft investigation in a matter of a few days.
Once the facts and information are pulled together an LP investigator will interview the subjects with the goal of obtaining a written admission. After the necessary elements of the investigation come together a presentation can then be made to the Police or Prosecutor.
Some retailers have a false sense of being secure by installing a CCTV system to deter retail theft. CCTV systems are a powerful tool, but like other tools in the fight against theft they have limitations. Retailers come to believe that now that they have installed a CCTV system that their retail theft will stop with little or no further effort on their part. That belief may actually cost them more money in the long run.
Here’s why: CCTV systems are passive in nature. They record 24/7 but normally they are not watched live. Certainly a small business owner may have a monitor and glance at it during the day. However, unless a person or incident is brought to their attention that is the extent of it. There may even be a monitor that a cashier can use to observe. But really how much time does that cashier spend watching? Most likely very little, especially after the novelty has worn off.
So what do we do? First you have to set your expectations correctly. CCTV is a great tool used to deter, stop and catch several types of retail theft including: employee theft, shoplifting and vendor fraud. But, keeping in mind that CCTV is a PASIVE system you must remember that everyone else knows this also including employees, shoplifters and vendors. These people know over time that the system is not actively being watched. Most cases it only used to look back at an incident. They are aware that you do not have the payroll to actively observe. In most cases they will test this to see if you are watching.
I will present the solutions to each of these in a following blog.
Contact us if you want more information or call 1.770.426.0547
