The basics of Loss Prevention

September 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Loss Prevention, traditionally, is a department or part of many retailers and businesses throughout the world. The responsibilities are generally the same; prevent losses.

Through a proactive approach, loss prevention can be a real asset to any company interested in protecting themselves from a number of different losses. Shoplifters, employee theft, receiving/delivery issues, vendor fraud and other administrative related concerns are the reality retailers and businesses face.

As an example, a local grocer I worked for some years ago faced a number of challenges. They were a smaller business, competing against the likes of Ralphs, Vons and other big name grocers. However, they had a niche, the community loved them. They were profitable and able to open to more local stores. As the business grew, so did the issues. More employees increased the likely hood of employee theft and dishonest employees. The operations department did not have the time or the experience on detecting and preventing such occurrences. They needed help, and fast. The company I worked for at the time was hired. The operators of the loss prevention organization came in with a fury. They quickly identified the issues and worked with the management on creating a plan to aggressively go after those causing the losses and rolled out a plan to help prevent them from occurring in the future. Initially, we launched several investigations into large dollar losses various departments were suffering. We uncovered everything from a local delivery company not delivering all the goods, and working with a dishonest employee to keep some of the company merchandise for his own little side business to big name, brand name vendors delivering only part of the merchandise ordered and fudging the numbers on invoices to reflect otherwise. Today, this grocer is thriving. They have about 21 locations and are looking forward to growth in the future.

Loss Prevention is an important and integral part of a business. A solid program delivering better than expected results should always be the outcome.

For more information visit us at loss prevention or call us at 1.770.426.0547

 

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To Arrest Or Not To Arrest – Juvenile Shoplifters & Our Efforts To Prevent Shoplifting

September 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In our efforts to prevent shoplifting we must make several business decisions. One of these is should we prosecute juvenile shoplifters? Some retailers say yes some no. I am of the opinion that all shoplifters regardless of age should be criminally charged.

Let’s say that this is the kid’s first offence, this may be the first time caught. A good scare by the Police and Courts will have a lasting effect. When I was in High School I was a Police Explorer Scout. One of my duties was to sit outside the holding cell of juvenile shoplifters while decisions were made. I remember that in one case a young girl maybe 13 years old had been caught at a major retail store. The store had a policy that criminal charges were left up to the discretion of the Police.

When the parents arrived they talked to the Police Lt and were deeply concerned about the girl. They in no way tried to get her out of it. They were more concerned about the long-term lesson she should take away from the incident. The Lt seeing that the parents were cooperative and caring worked with them.

After a plan was hatched I opened the cell door. The girl was relieved that her parents were there but Dad said “I am sorry that you are here but you did this to yourself. Your Mother and I do not know if we can help you or not. But we will try.” At that point he closed the cell door and they walked back to the Lt. They said that they would see him in an hour or so and left to get a cup of coffee. The girl cried for most of that time. I have a strong suspicion that she has never shoplifted again. Talk about a prevent shoplifting program.

What studies show is very simple. There is a much lower rate FOR JUVENILES being rearrested vs. Juveniles that were not. I believe that if we impact this early on we are not only doing our businesses a favor but our society as a whole. If a child is not taught right from wrong what will they aspire to? Prevent shoplifting with juveniles and eventually the overall shoplifting rates will go down.

For more information contact us at prevent shoplifting loss or call 1.770.426.0547

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Alphas New Fashion2 Accessory Tag Clothing Alarm

September 26, 2010 by

As the clothing alarm arena is concerned Alpha a division of Checkpoint Systems has hit another home run. The new Fashion2 Accessory Tag solves a few issues that have been out there for some time in the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) offerings.

These clothing security tags are designed for accessories like shoes, handbags, gloves, briefcases, luggage, belts, watches, hats and about anything else that traditional clothing security tags and pins would damage or not work on. If the item has a space or hole that the built in 3” lanyard could loop through then the problem is solved.

The lanyard attached back through the merchandise item and locks back into the hard tag clutch. The lanyard is made of plastic coated stranded aircraft cable, which makes it almost impossible to cut.

The Fashion2 is available in S3, Standard Lock and Super Lock clutch strengths. The S3 is a newer technology detacher that cannot not be duplicated.

The Fashion2 clothing alarm tag comes in three colors; black, gray and beige. These will blend in with almost any style garment. The Fashion2 is small, less than two inches long by 0.55” wide by 0.80” deep.

Available in both RF and AM formats this sleek fashion-forward design will complement your high-end apparel while providing the ultimate clothing alarm .

The Fashion2 clothing alarm tag comes in quantities of 250.

For more information on clothing security or clothing security tags contact us at clothing alarm or call 1.770.426.0547

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Are You Paying For Illegal Drugs? Corporate Fraud Investigation In Atlanta

September 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In the course of my career as a corporate fraud investigator I have found that when conducting a employee theft investigation approximately 30 % have involved illegal drugs in some form or fashion. The person committing employee theft used the proceeds for the purchase of illegal drugs.

In some cases when an employee has a drug dependence they do not want their spouse, parents or friends to know. They need money because their paycheck goes for the normal things we all pay: housing, car note, food, gas… But a drug habit has to be fed and where is the easiest place to get money? They might get shot robbing a bank, burglarizing a home, or robbing a person on the street. The easiest place in most cases is their employer. You have cash and merchandise on hand and the employee probably has access to all of it.

When we conduct a corporate fraud investigation one of the first things I do is look at is the personnel files and talk to the supervisors. I ask about the employees in question. Do they live with in their means, how is their work record and is there any activity that would suggest illegal drug use?

Spotting a drug user can be a fairly simple matter. Look for physical signs such as radical mood swings, comprehension problem, no call no show for work issues and frequent times that the employee disappears to name a few.

Why should you care if a person is under the influence of illegal drugs at work? Besides the obvious impact to productivity and payroll you should consider that employees like this tend to attract other like themselves. In more than one corporate fraud investigation I have found that several other employees began working at the same company, attracted by drug user #1. Corporate fraud and your assets then become the cash cow for several drug habits.

Generally a corporate fraud investigator does not really care why employee theft is occurring just who and solving it. However, you should learn from this and put a prevention program in place. Are you conducting pre-employment drug screens? Do you have policy in place that allows you to conduct unannounced drug screens?

Corporate fraud has destroyed more businesses than we could probably count. Do not let your business become a victim because an employee theft situation happened as a result of something clearly preventable.  Employee theft and corporate fraud will not go away on its own. YOU must be proactive!

For more information on corporate fraud , corporate fraud investigation and employee theft in Atlanta contact us about corporate fraud investigator or call 1.770.426.0547

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Checkpoint Systems – The ONLY solution to Shoplifting?

September 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Get real! There is no way that any one tool even something as sophisticated yet simple as checkpoint systems can be the only anti shoplifting solution. However, it gets close. What is missing? Training and employee support.

Training and employee support! How many times have you been in a retail store and the Checkpoint systems have alarmed as a customer was walking out the door and the employee just “waved them on”? This shows that the employee is not trained or simply does not care. Shoplifters know and watch for this kind of apathy. A person who is shoplifting looks at this situation as pure gold. They conceal an item on themselves, purchase several other items, set off the Checkpoint systems and wait for the wave on.

Or how about the employee that take their job and responsibility to the company serious. When this happens they approach the customer and say “My apologies, our inventory control system has picked up a tag that we must have failed to remove or deactivate. Let me take care of that now.”

Wow what a difference! Once the employee has sorted out the alarm they may find that it was a case of shoplifting.

Another point to keep in mind is that Checkpoint systems are designed to give you additional anti shoplifting support when you employee coverage is low to the customers on the floor. Gee, I can’t imagine that people that are shoplifting could create a situation like that to keep your staff busy? The Checkpoint systems are working 24/7 not time off, vacation or sick days (well, maybe a sick day if someone breaks it).

Shoplifting is not going away. It is getting worse and will continue to do so with our present economy. However, even in the best of times you cannot afford to allow profit to walk out the door!

For more information contact us at: anti shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

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Why Employees Steal In Retail Loss Prevention, Atlanta

September 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Over the years many of the employees caught in retail loss prevention theft investigations that I have conducted have given me a lot of reasons why they did it. The most common is “as a favor to help friends out” or commonly called peer pressure. Think of it, an employee commits a felony that will land them in serious trouble to help out a buddy.

My fellow loss prevention and security professionals have heard this so many times. Why does the employee do it? There are several factors. One being age. We mostly hear this from 17 to 22 year olds. I believe that this is because they think that fitting in with so-called “friends” is more important than anything else. This thought process is pretty alien to the rest of us until you start thinking back to your own life at that age. You may have started smoking or did something else that you now look back and say, “what was I thinking?”. All of this in order to “fit in”.

Employees in that age group also tend to feel like they are bullet proof and that they wont get caught. In that situation I always laugh about the security and loss prevention investigations I conducted where a 19 year old cashier thought that she was the only one that ever thought up refund fraud, cash theft, void fraud or some other retail loss prevention theft that I had already put 600 people prior to her in jail for.

There was one retail loss prevention investigation in particular that I think is a good example. Two 18 year olds, male and female who were boyfriend/girlfriend decided that they would steal merchandise and cash to the tune of several thousand dollars. They thought that no one knew what they were doing. Clearly they believed that they were smarter that the rest of us including the store manager.

The manager contacted me to start a retail loss prevention investigation after he noticed variances in both cash and merchandise. In a very short time I had the evidence pulled together and narrowed it down to the two eighteen year olds. The interviews with each of them revealed the reason, they were stealing for each other (isn’t love grand?) and they didn’t think anyone would notice. They got to spend the next two years on probation paying back the business with interest and 50 hours of community service each (separate community service details as the Judge thought the love needed a break).

Your loss prevention security program must take this type of reason in to account if you want to keep your money on the bottom line. You must make clear to employees of all ages that you will not tolerate any theft of any type. The only thing they are allowed to leave the store with that they did not bring in is the air in their lungs. The rest is hands off.

Security and loss prevention professionals help you to balance loss prevention with sales, operations and human resource issues and concerns.

For more information on loss prevention security , retail loss prevention or loss prevention in general please contact us in Atlanta at: security and loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547

LPSI is the Atlanta area loss prevention security experts.

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How Employment Screening Can Lead To A Safer Work Place

September 24, 2010 by

Pre employment screening has become a necessary process for many companies, industries and firms and especially with high risk positions. Pre employment screening consists of employee background checks and include a criminal background check along with personal, employment, financial, educational and other legal history checks.

There are several reassurances that come with employing the services of a background check company. Of these include knowing that you do not have a criminal amongst your employees, they were honest and sincere with their resumes and histories, and they have the educational training required for their positions.

Employing the services of a background check company also can reassure there are no employees with fraudulent histories that could eventually lead to attempted fraud against their company. If an employee with a bad credit and financial history of length and bankruptcy were to be put in a position that included handling large amounts of money, the potential of a theft happening would be much higher and a situation that can be avoided with employee background checks.

Employment screening and employee background checks decrease the incidences one could expect with high risk employees. You could even say it ensures a much lower percentage of chance that one bad apple will spoil the whole bunch! This can give the employers more time to think about other business matters and eliminate the stress of not knowing who is working for them.

Pre employment screening should consist of employee background checks and a criminal background check at minimum, but depending on the type of business and the potential risk that typically comes with this type of business, the full employee background checks may be more appropriate. Not only will the employer feel more safe and secure but the employees will too, knowing full well what all is being checked before they are hired.

A safe and secure company is able to focus more on running the company and less of watching their backs as those that do not take these precautionary steps should be doing. It’s too bad that this is the way it is, but it is certainly smarter to be safe than sorry.

A criminal background check is a simple, easy solution.

For more information contact us at background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

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New Clothing Security Tag From Alpha, The New Ink Tag

September 24, 2010 by

Alpha a division of Checkpoint Systems has released the new Ink Tag. These new clothing security tags are awesome. They have set a new standard for security tags on clothes .

The new clothing security ink tag is two inches across its round flat shape. The tag is beige (RF) or gray (AM). It uses a concave shaped, transparent round head pin which makes life much more difficult for the shoplifter. And speaking of making a shoplifters life difficult Alpha has made this clothing security ink tag available in S3, standard and super lock clutch strengths. Now you can choose based on the existing detacher you may already have.

The new flat round design and round head pin makes it difficult for a shoplifter to get a good grip in order to try to forcibly remove it.

But here is the really great thing. The ink tag has the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) technology built right in. The previous ink tags really acted as the pin to an EAS tag. This changes the game significantly. The new concept provides an overall lower tag profile. This lower profile also makes it much more difficult for a shoplifter to get a grip. These new clothing security tags will insure that many a shoplifter will need to go down the street to your competitor and leave you alone.

Alpha clothing security ink tags have two glass vials of ink, red and yellow. Normal handling and abuse by store staff will not cause the vials to break. But if a shoplifter attempts to forcibly remove the tag from the garment they shatter the vials and the ink spreads over the merchandise. Oh and by the way shoplifters beware; the ink formula has an anti-freeze in it. So even if you do manage to get the stolen item out of the store, put it in your freezer then try to remove it, sorry ink on you! Retailers have relied on security tags on clothes for the last 25 years to protect their merchandise.

Alpha Ink Tags come in quantities of 250.

For more information on Alpha & Checkpoint Systems products, clothing security , security tags on clothes please contact us at clothing security tags or call 1.770.426.0547

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Employee Theft In Atlanta It Cant Happen To Me!?!

September 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I conducted an employee theft investigation here in the Atlanta area recently where our client was hit by a long term Assistant Manager (AM) who stole approximately $48,000 in cash. The AM did this by manipulating the clients accounting systems and POS.

Employee theft which is also referred to as internal theft or white collar crime impacted this client very hard. This person was a trusted individual that had been given quite a bit of authority. In fact the client now realizes that the AM was given too much unchecked authority.

It turns out that the AM has a gambling problem. The owners of the company suspected this. What is concerning is that this did not raise a red flag. When we guide the client through a review of the employee theft investigation once we are done and the employee is on his way to jail the response is almost always the same, “why didn’t I see this? It is so clear now”. The reasons they didn’t see it are many:

They include a desire that we all have to see the best in people.

We do not want to think that a person we hired and like could betray us.

We can get blinders on and do not pay attention because we are “busy”.

We also use personal trust instead of business trust (this person is considered a friend).

Employee theft is not an important part of the business decision-making process.

It boils down to this. If you do not have a loss prevention mindset and consider employee theft something that can’t happen to you then you will experience employee theft or internal theft first hand. Wake up and see what is going on around you. This is not personal it is a business. There are a segment of employees (1 in 10) that WILL commit employee theft in your business.

So what are you doing about it? Do you have a business mind set in loss prevention policy and procedure? Are you making hiring decisions with loss prevention as part of the process? Do you have a loss prevention audit in place (loss prevention audits are designed to expose employee fraud , internal theft , corporate fraud and white collar crime )?

You must have check and balance in your business operations otherwise you will be seeing employee theft up front and personal. If you have blinders on or think it cant happen to me, chances are it is happening to you now.

For more information about employee fraud , internal theft , white collar crime or employee theft investigation in Atlanta contact us about employee fraud or call 1.770.426.0547

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Loss Prevention Security Policy And Procedure

September 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Loss prevention security is achieved with many programs and concepts running at the same time. However, the foundation of all of this is the company policy and procedure manual. Is it a living-breathing document that is emphasized daily by upper and middle management? Or is it used only and a means to prop open the office door?

Your P & P should clearly spell out how the company operates and when someone asks a question the first source that the person should be referred to is that manual. You must create a loss prevention security culture when employees automatically start with the P & P manual. This accomplishes several goals.

One of the biggest time and profit wastes in a company is reinventing the same wheel over and over. A policy and procedure manual creates a standard. Do it that way. Another issue that a P & P manual solves is the constant interruptions for information that should be readily available to employees.

For example, you have a procedure for receiving. Everyone that touches that area should know the correct way to receive product. It should be the same way and not open to interpretation. Security and loss prevention is only achieved when everyone is doing the same things the same way.

Of course all of this is only possible if you keep the manual up to date with relevant and current information that has changed with your business changes. Loss prevention security personnel should be involved along with all other areas to review and insure that changes are made as business changes.

Security and loss prevention personal can then focus more on prevention and go after the money that is leaking off the bottom line in more complex areas. Loss prevention security should be a profit center. You will never achieve that until you have a stable foundation.

Make your policy and procedure manual and loss prevention a corner stone in your companies profit model.

For more information about security and loss prevention in Atlanta contact us at: loss prevention security or call 1.770.426.0547

 

 

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