internal Audit

IS YOUR BACK DOOR PROTECTED?

November 3, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Ever given any thought to your receiving area and your back door? How often do you open it and walk away? Do you require a manager be present when it’s open, or do you “trust” your warehouse crew with a key? Have you ever considered that an unattended back door could not only cause shrink, but also compromise the safety of your customer and employees? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may have a problem.

Last year around Thanksgiving, I was scheduled to receive a pallet of television sets for Black Friday. Three days before the big day and they were nowhere to be found, only my inventory system said they were received on a truck that had already been processed. That pallet was worth $7,500 so I started to panic; checking the few outside containers I had, both warehouses, the sales floor, anywhere I could think of. When I couldn’t locate them, I went to the camera system on the day that I should have received them. Sure as I’m sitting here, I saw my employee roll a pallet of TVs off the truck after watching for a little while. I saw the employee place the pallet where it should have gone, but then a few hours later, I saw another employee wheel them out the back door.

I knew instantly that they had been stolen. There’s no reason for them to go outside, and there was no reason for that particular employee to be in the warehouse. You know what else I saw? That my back door was wide open, and there wasn’t a manager anywhere to be found. Long story short, the employee confessed to stealing/reselling them. When asked how he’d known that he could get away with the crime, he stated that he always saw the back door open. Without a manager present, it became common knowledge amongst a certain group of employees that you could just walk whatever you wanted right out the back door.

Outside of basic employee theft, an unattended back door could also be an invitation to a robbery. Think about this for a minute; you’re a desperate criminal and you’ve decided that you plan to rob Store X. You’ve cased the place for a week now and learned that the safe is in the rear office, in close proximity to the warehouse. You’ve also noticed that the back door is constantly left wide-open with no one (witnesses) around. So would you: a) walk through the front door and announce a robbery for all the customers, employees cameras to see, or b) park in the rear of the store, enter through the open warehouse door and possibly catch the manager alone in the cash room? I’m no criminal, but I’d probably go with the second option.

Perhaps that is the worst-case scenario. Perhaps instead of robbing you of cash, a thief just sees an easy way to slip out of the store with large quantities of merchandise undetected? If your back door in constantly open with no one around, your regular thieves will absolutely take notice, and take advantage of it. So the next time you see your back door open, be the voice of change and help secure your store, your product and guarantee the safety of people in it.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

HARDENING YOUR PERIMETER – PREVENTING A BURGLARY

April 28, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

My grandparents owned a small hardware store back in the late 1950s. Back then, when my grandpa left at 5pm, he simply locked the back door, gathered his belongings and left, locking the double glass front door behind him with nothing more than a standard lock that you’d find on any home at the time. The front of the store was nothing but glass. He had cash and at least $100k worth of merchandise on the shelves. Wouldn’t it be nice if things could go back to the way they were back then? Could you imagine if you left your store this soft nowadays? Burglaries happen, and they happen often. Over the past ten years as a Regional LP manager for my company, I’ve had it happen a total of 12 times. About once a year, or so, someone, somewhere across my region, breaks into one of my stores; or at least tries to do so. We have a lot of things that we implement to prevent this from happening, so when someone is able to breach our perimeter, it’s usually caused by human error.

Hiding in a rack

Out of the 12, six never actually tried to “break in”. They simply just stayed in the store. Closing manager task #1 is to WALK THE SALES FLOOR thoroughly before dismissing the team. Always check the hiding spots, restrooms and fitting room stalls, in addition the warehouse areas. What always struck me about these cases, is the suspect has literally nowhere to go. He’s locked into the store; and during every single case, the suspect was a trapped mouse. This of course, is due to the fire exit bars that are installed and locked once the building is no longer occupied. Most criminals think they can just grab what they want and push out of a fire exit…

Smash and grab

I’ve had two of these during my tenure. Suspect drives a vehicle through the front entrance. It never really works out in the long run though. Of these two, one made it in, but the truck was so heavily damaged, it wouldn’t move. The other didn’t get past the cement bollards in the front. I highly recommend the installation of bollards if you don’t have them. Smash and grabs are a more and more common way to burglarize small businesses. Bollards are a way to quite literally, fight back.

Walk right in

My personal 3 favorite burglaries of all times; which also led to the terminations of three separate managers. I know that closing a store has its own set of challenges and there are plenty of things that need to get done before you go home… setting the alarm and locking the door shouldn’t be the two things that you forget though. Either one, or both has happened and they have usually resulted from a scattered brained manager getting very distracted, or not doing something right on the alarm panel. One just got distracted with a personal phone call that he left the store so quickly that the front doors weren’t locked. There are criminals that check these things often. We see thieves check car door handles to see if the car is locked; well there are some that do the same to businesses.

Rappel down

If you have a skylight(s) it is important to make sure access to your roof is restricted at all times. If not, someone can get up there and steal the copper out of your AC units, or go special forces and rappel down into your store; two very funny stories that you’ll have to read in the next article.

While burglaries are a more common problem that we might think, there are several measures that you can implement to make your store less of a target for these crooks. Whether it’s installing an alarm panel, putting in a roll-down shutter down, or making sure the roof ladder isn’t left accessible and your front doors are actually locked at night. Following some pretty basic steps and using some good old fashioned common sense can help you to avoid the headache and lost money that comes from a burglary.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Employee Theft

December 16, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shoplifting costs the retail industry million of dollars daily. The harm done to the businesses and the economy in general is socially and economically harmful, but employee theft hurts the company’s culture, damages trust between owners and employees, and financially are responsible for billions of dollars that companies lose due to this horrible crime. For more about this topic follow the links below.

A New Employee Theft Study

An Analysis of Employee Theft at a Specialty Retailer.

When I was a doctoral graduate student at the University of Minnesota during the late 1970s, I began conducting research on employee theft. At the time this was an area of criminology that was virtually unexplored. I found that it was very hard to study this subject then, since few retailers were willing to let a social scientist have full access to the records on this subject. Over forty years later, the scholarly literature on dishonesty in the workplace is still understudied and poorly understood despite the best efforts of a handful of researchers.

As such, I am always on the lookout for new and cutting-edge research on this topic. This month I wish to share the results of a quality employee theft study that was recently published as a doctoral dissertation. The author is Dana N. Baxter. She completed her research while studying under Dr. Dennis Giever at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She finished her dissertation this past spring and graduated in May. She is presently an assistant professor at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia.

A Snapshot of Employee Theft in the US

The majority of employee thefts are occurring in organizations with 500 employees or less. The sizes and types of thefts vary by industry, but smaller organizations across the spectrum exhibited high incidences of embezzlement overall.

The unfortunate reality of employee theft is every organization is at risk.

When we looked at the totality of federal actions involving employee theft over the calendar year, nearly 72% involved organizations with fewer than 500 employees. Within that data set, we found that four of every five victim organizations had fewer than 100 employees; more than half had fewer than 25 employees. Is there a connection between the size of an organization and the size of the loss? Our research suggests that there may be. While some of the largest losses occurred in organizations with fewer than 50 employees, in the aggregate, we note the following:

U.S. retail workers are No. 1…in employee theft

Light-fingered employees cost American stores (and consumers) more than shoplifters do.

It’s almost Groundhog Day, but for retailers, the holiday season is finally winding down.

“The four months from October through January are when stores see not just their biggest sales volume of the year, but also the most returns and exchanges,” says Ernie Deyle, a 30-year veteran of the retail loss-prevention wars who leads the business consulting practice at London-based data analytics firm Sysrepublic. “Unfortunately, the same four months account for about half of all annual shrinkage.”

That shrinkage, made up of missing goods from shoplifting and other causes, costs U.S. retailers about $42 billion a year, according to the latest Global Retail Theft Barometer, an annual industry study led by Deyle and inventory management firm Checkpoint Systems.

Shoppers pay the price for such theft. The cost of mysteriously vanishing merchandise comes to $403 annually per U.S. household.

Of course, retailers everywhere deal with shrinkage, but there is one big difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world: Globally, dishonest employees are behind about 28% of inventory losses, while shoplifters account for a markedly higher 39%. Not so stateside, the study says, where employee theft accounts for 43% of lost revenue. That’s about $18 billion, or $2.3 billion more than the cost of five-finger discounts taken by customers.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

COPYING EMPLOYEE THEFT

November 11, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Quite often, I like to showcase a new theft trend, or perhaps a funnier shoplifter story for a bit of humor. This month is no different. We’ve talked about some pretty serious issues on the past two articles and now I just want to share a story that goes along with that employee theft piece. It’s something I bet each and every one of you will react to immediately after reading.

At one point last year, our company finally gave us (Regional LP Managers) access to our store’s P&L statements. You would think we would have already had this… Better late than never I suppose. It’s a great tool for me to see the overall profitability of the store. I can use my expertise to help the store reduces losses/expenses and to become a more profitable business. One store in particular stuck out. They were over their office supply budget by thousands of dollars. Odd.

Most stores spent between $500-$1000 a month on office supplies like toner, paper, pens and pencils. This particular store was spending triple that; at least $3k each month. I met with the store manager during a visit and asked about that line item. He was just as perplexed. Where were these office supplies going each and every month? We devised a plan. We initiated a “buy back” program for all employees. We put up signs in the offices and common areas asking all employees to clear their lockers, cars and homes of any supplies they may have taken home. It happens, no big deal. When the employees returned the items, we weighed them on a digital scale. The employee with the heaviest return received a gift card. Well, it worked. We had pens and pencils for the next two years. Next month, the store still spent $2k in supplies.

Baffled, I reached out to our accounting department. Surely, there had to be an error somewhere. Perhaps a line item was being mixed in where it shouldn’t be. It took a few days, but I convinced one of the accountants to give me an itemized breakdown of all office supplies the store had ordered over the past year. Toner. The store was ordering toner. Lots and lots of toner.

I questioned the managers and personally searched the store. Over the past six months, the store had ordered nearly 25 replacement toner cartridges. Couldn’t find them, and couldn’t explain why the store was ordering so many. I decided to ask the administrative assistant. A kind of last ditch effort to explain why the store kept ordering copy toner. 15 minutes into my conversation and I had a theft confession.

Toner, apparently, will resell very easily online, especially if you mark it down about 50%. The administrative assistant was ordering toner, then simply walking out the front door with it. She’d post it on eBay and was making a pretty healthy profit from it. It was a first for our LP department. No one else had ever, in my company’s history, uncovered this form of theft. It was a bit unusual, but still cost us well over $12k. My advice to you; look over your office supply orders.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, Background checks, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Training, Periodic inventory, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Shoplifting Prevention

After Dark Is Not Just For Vampires

October 8, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For Retailers there are a number of scary things that happen when the sun goes down. As we get into fall it becomes darker, earlier. This can become problematic for us. We have issues that get magnified with darkness that concerns employee/customer safety and the safety and security of our businesses. There are the usual concerns of employees walking to their cars after closing and the like. I want to bring up some that you may have not considered.

Employees – Are you taking your deposit after closing? Night makes this a much more dangerous task. Consider changing this to mid-day. Take it at lunch time. Lock the deposit into the safe overnight. Then take it during the day when there is less risk. Safes are not very expensive. $400 will get you a decent safe. Bolt it to the floor so someone does not steal the safe. When you take the deposit to the bank conceal it in something other than the bank bag. Let’s not make it too obvious.

Robbery – Many of us never discuss this with our folks, we should. What is your plan? Do they understand that their safety and the safety of your customers trump everything else? If you are not sure what you should do or say, contact us. I can send you a draft policy and some materials you can use (free of charge and I am not going to try to sell you anything).

Customer and Employee Safety – Yes you could be liable for something that happens while on your property. This includes your parking lot. Even if you are leasing in a strip center. If there are lights out in the parking lot or if it is poorly lit then do or say something. An email to the management company or property owner will put them on notice that you have a concern. If you have control, get it fixed. If there are people hanging around that you are uncomfortable with, then contact the Police. Ask to meet with a Sgt. or Lt. over your area. They would rather prevent an issue than deal with the results. If the department has public business meetings, you should attend. This will give you information on crime trends in your area and ideas on how to combat them.

Speaking of the Police, have you taken the time to make acquaintances with the Police Officers working your area? Do they know that you always have a cup of coffee available and want their presence in your store? Do they know that you encourage and support their efforts? A uniform officer and a patrol car in the area of your business goes a long ways to preventing problems.

As a former Police Officer, I can tell you that these things mean a lot to them. The majority of contact they have with people is with criminals and victims. Normally they do not see the rest of us as we are not their normal “customers”. Especially in today’s times a kind word, show of support and asking for their opinion and guidance mean a lot to them. Do this enough and when you really do need them, They will be responding to the face of a person they know instead of an address.

Remember, those Officers, their spouses and friends are also your potential customers.

Shoplifters – Remember that shoplifters need one thing to ply their craft: concealment. Even if you have a Checkpoint System make sure that your store is brightly lit, that there are no hidden spots that make a shoplifter feel warm and fuzzy about concealing merchandise. Make sure that your folks fully understand your vision of customer service. Staff that display good customer service skills will shut off most impulse shoplifters. Consequently good customer service skills are not just a tool for sales but a weapon against shoplifting.

Customers that have Checkpoint Systems that LPSI installed can always schedule a free, live on-line shoplifting seminar. We are happy to help. October is a great time to schedule this before the holiday season gets in full swing. This will help raise your staff’s shoplifting awareness for the holidays.

Let us know, if we can help you get ready for your holiday selling season!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Prevent Shoplifting, surveillance

TAKING CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO TAKE CARE OF YOU – HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR LP TEAM

October 7, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I’ve had the pleasure of running the most productive team of LP agents in our company for quite some time. My team of 10, who cover markets across the Southeast, consistently make solid cases day in, and day out. Not too long ago, my peers put me on the spot at a regional meeting and asked what makes my team so successful. We have the same number of people in markets like Houston and Atlanta, who don’t have the number of cases that we do. So what’s the secret to success?

Hire the right person

From the time I have an opening, I look for the perfect candidate. I actively go out and recruit when time permits. I’ll reach out to my industry peers and find out who their top performers are… and not so shamelessly try to lure them away. I have never once settled for a “warm body” hire, as I see all too often in our stores. I not only need someone who can catch a thief and build cases, I need someone who can work alone, who has a strong work ethic and can build partnerships with stores teams, managers and local law enforcement.

Pay for performance

When you find that right person, don’t let a few dollars come in the way of a great hire. Money is a great motivator and in this field, you get what you pay for. Spending that extra payroll can pay off for you in the long run. This assures that you are getting someone who will be dedicated to their job in addition to being less likely to go rogue and cause you a potential lawsuit. Remember, you can get a job flipping burgers for $10/Hr. is that the quality person you want on your team?

Training

I don’t care how much experience someone has. When they come to my team, they all get the same amount of training. I often hear store managers say that “they don’t have time to train new store employees.” That makes me cringe. Without proper training, you are setting a new hire up to fail. I personally provide the first 2 weeks of training to all my new hires. Yep, I scrub down to a t-shirt and shorts and work the floor, just like the old glory days. After that 2 weeks, I have them shadow 2 of my top performers for another 2 weeks each. 6 weeks of training altogether before they are ever released on their own. There is always time to train.

Set expectations

Time and attendance. Cases. Personal code of conduct. Interaction with managers/law enforcement. All these areas need to have certain expectations set in stone. I expect my team to arrive to work on time each day. I expect them to make solid cases each week and I expect them to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times when interacting with anyone on behalf of the company. This also includes shoplifting suspects. When someone on my team fails to meet those standards, you can bet your paycheck they will be called out on it. I don’t accept sub-par performance in any job category; neither should you.

Motivate, Motivate, Motivate

I can’t stress that enough. A productive team is a motivated one. Find ways to get your team motivated. For me, the simplest, yet most effective method I’ve found is free food. My top performer each month gets a $30 gift card to the restaurant of their choice. I also find the time to spend at least a few hours each month with my team and when possible, buy them lunch. Twice a year we’ll do a cookout as well. I’m telling you, free food is a motivator. Try it out.

Aside from free food☺, I find that calling out great performance motivates everyone. Just last week, one of my agents made a $1,500 shoplifting stop. I publicly recognized him for his work and 2 more of my agents made $1k stops that week. Would they have made those stops anyway? Maybe? What I can tell you is that there exists this atmosphere of friendly competition amongst my team. Seeing their peer get recognized undoubtedly made them more focused in order to gain that notoriety as well. Just as you call out the bad, always call out the good.

Communication

This is my “cliché” for a successful LP team, but it holds water. Each week we all get on a conference call and talk about the previous week. I’ll let each one of them talk about their apprehensions and what they could’ve done better during each case. This is also an opportunity for me to bring up any concerns I have, company initiatives coming out, or any other house cleaning that I need to speak to. This is also a great time to discuss new trends and big time boosters that we need to focus on. If you’re not speaking with your team regularly, then you’re leaving valuable information on the table.

Weekends/scheduling

We’re retail. We’re busier after 4 and on the weekends. Does that mean you have to work your team a closing shift every night and every single weekend? No. (I heard the collective gasp.) Remember I told you my team is the most productive in our company. Guess what? They only work 1 ½ weekends a month. That’s right. I schedule them to work one weekend and one additional weekend day. During the busier holiday times, we might increase that a little bit, but it’s important to keep those in there to prevent burn out. I give them a free extra weekends off, they give me plenty of shoplifters. I have no complaints. I also don’t schedule them the same mid/closing shifts every day. I vary from openings, mids and at least one close per week. Again, I try to prevent the burnout of working a close every Friday, or all day every Saturday.

You’ve more than likely heard plenty of these before, however applying them to your LP team can be highly beneficial. We have to remember that those we employ are put in incredibly stressful and often potentially violent situations each and every day. The idea that they get up and are happy to come to work each day is a true testament to their character. I had a boss a long time ago tell me that employees are people first and employees second. You take care of the people who take care of you. Those two lines are how I run my team and it’s never let me down.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, prevent shrinkage

Retail Burglar Alarm System Considerations

September 8, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I thought I would provide you with information to assist you in making decisions regarding the purchase or maintenance of a security system for your property. The information provided will help cut though the “fog” of choices regarding alarm systems.

I have over 35 years of experience in both commercial and military property protection. My Bachelor’s Degree is in Industrial Security and my knowledge includes physical security, design of alarm solutions and installation. I am also a licensed alarm tech.

When selecting a security system for a commercial space, you do not have to spend a great deal of money. However, you need to be cautious of putting in a system that is so inexpensive that you are really only getting a false sense of security. If you purchase smart, you will have a good system that will last for years and provide excellent coverage at a very reasonable price.

Choosing a provider – There are so many choices that it is usually overwhelming. Ranging from large national chains to single man shops. What is the best? Well, there is no answer that fits everyone. But you should consider the following:

How reliable is the company? How long have they been in business?

With large national chains, you tend to be just a number despite their advertising claims.

With some small operations you have to be concerned, if they will be there next year.

Generally regional chains and smaller operations are going to be more attentive to your needs.

Be VERY cautious of alarm sales people. Most of the time they are focused on quota and really do not care, if you are properly protected or not. Most do not have practical knowledge of physical security, they are salesmen. Make sure you get what is best for you not for the sales person who is trying to make quota and/or selling you components that are add-ons you really do not need.

How long is the contract? 5 years is WAY too long of a term. A good contract length is 2-3 years. Remember, if they cannot hold you with good performance and service, they will tend to try to get a longer contract. Length of contract is negotiable even with large companies. Besides where will you be in 5 years? Will your company have outgrown your current space and you have to move? An assurance of “oh if you move we will move with you” may sound great but what if they have done a poor job? Do you want to continue that relationship?

Watch out for companies that have wording in their contract that automatically raise your monitoring charge usually on an annual basis. Many times it is explained away as a “cost of living” type charge. It is just an underhanded way to get more money out of you.

I will discuss equipment later in this document but keep this in mind: A trick that the large companies do, is sell you the alarm control. But it is proprietary and THEY are the only company that can program it. This keeps you locked into them forever. No one else can monitor or service it. Insist on a NON-Proprietary alarm control.

Are they insured? Get a copy of the insurance and insist on an updated copy every year. Better yet have them list you on their policy. Is their coverage adequate for a loss due to their negligence? Keep in mind that alarm companies are NOT insurers. They will not insure your life or property losses. That is what your insurance is for. But if they make a serious error or commit Errors and Omissions (E&O), you need them to cover their mistake. Have your insurance agent review the coverage document provided to you. Do this up front. Like my Attorney says to me “Let’s get the paperwork right at the beginning because I have never seen anyone wear their wedding dress to the divorce”.

Are they licensed? Check the Secretary of States web site. Are they properly licensed for low-voltage alarms, are there complaints….?

System Design – Unless you want a lot of bells and whistles you can keep It pretty simple. Here are the key items you should have:

Alarm Control (brains of the system). See above about proprietary vs non-proprietary.

Alarm Keypad near the front door. This is how you arm and disarm the system. In my experience a keypad with an “alpha” display is best. This usually costs a bit more but instead of it displaying a zone number such as “Zone 08” it will for example say “Back Door Left”. This is much easier to deal with when there is a problem. And there will be a problem usually late at night when you need clear information. If you also access your suite from several doors, then you want a keypad at each door for your convenience.

Door Contacts. Contact every exterior door both personnel and overhead doors whether you use them or not. They are a “hole” in your wall.

Glass Break Detectors should cover EVERY bit of your glass that is accessible. This is the most likely way a burglar will break in. Usually one glass break detector in every office with any windows will take care of it.

Motion Detectors. You should have at least one. This should be in a hallway or other area that would make it very difficult for someone to move very far without tripping it. You do not need to cover every square foot. That is overkill and not generally necessary. The exception would be, if you have very valuable supplies, equipment or other assets you need protecting. Then a motion detector covering that area is warranted.

Fire Protection is a nice thing to add. This may help reduce your insurance premiums. Keep in mind that you may be in a building that has a sprinkler system. What you should ask is that sprinkler system “monitored by a central station” or is it simply going to ring an outside bell if activated. From a fire perspective you want it monitored. However, what happens if there is a water flow in the middle of the night or on the weekend and no one discovers it until business hours? Monitoring will keep your losses in merchandise and structure more limited.

Burglary sirens are nice but do not go crazy. One siren on the inside is enough. Keep in mind that almost every keypad has a built in siren.

Automatic Testing – This is one of the most overlooked issues. If your alarm system is not checking in with the alarm companies central station on a routine basis then how would you ever know if it stops working? This happens a lot! Alarm systems are electronic and mechanical devices that do break. An electrical surge from a phone line connection or 110 Volt power happens very frequently. If your systems communications go down you may never know it. It will not show up on the keypad.

Look for a “Supervised, Weekly Timer/Test”. This is an automated signal that your alarm control is programed to send every week at the exact same time. The central station computer is watching for this signal and if it does receive it then the central station computer notifies an operator and they then notify you. This process is all automated and normally is programed to happen in the middle of the night. The central station will then notify you the next day during business hours. If you are really concerned, then you may wish to select a daily timer/test signal.

Timer/Test signals are very inexpensive to you and many companies provide a weekly one free of charge.

Notification of an Alarm – This is the call list that the central station uses to get a hold of you in the event of an emergency or a problem. They cannot help you, if they cannot reach you. Keep this list up to date. Some of the better alarm companies can send you an automated email several times a year with your current call list. This reminder helps you to keep the list current. The problem with a call list is that it is out of sight, out of mind. Without these reminders you usually do not know until there is a problem. You should also have the alarm company send you an automated e-mail whenever there is an event such as an alarm, timer/test fail, maintenance problem…. Those should also be included in your service at no charge.

Reports – Another often overlooked feature is an open/close report. Your alarm company can program your alarm control to instantly send a signal to the central station each time the system is armed or disarmed. Your system tells the central station which employee armed/disarmed and at what date/time. A summary report is sent to you once a week by e-mail. You should tell them you want an “all activity” report. This should not cost any more. That way you will also see alarms, troubles…. In addition to the opens/closes. This is much easier for you to read. Most of us only need a “log only” report. The log only version is less expensive because there is no intervention by a central station operator.

This report is a very important tool for business owners and managers. It will let you know who is coming in and when which is a good tool to assist you in tracking employee time when you are not there. It will also alert you to someone coming in after hours. Use this report as a proactive tool. If something falls outside the norm then question the employee about it. This lets them know you are aware and will help to prevent issues such as employee theft.

Alarm System Codes – Every employee should have their own code. Employees should not be allowed to share codes. Tell your employees that they are accountable for what happens with their code. If a theft or incident occurs because they gave their code to someone or someone saw the code, then they will be held accountable. Codes should never be simple such as-1234, 2468, a year, birth month/year combination, phone number…. Anything obvious. You might try using a person’s last four digits of their SSN. People tend to protect that number. Let them know that if their code is compromised for any reason, they must notify you and you will simply change it.

Transmission via cellular or internet – I personally love this feature. Most of the problems with alarm systems involve phone line issues. I think cellular is best. A cellular signal cannot be blocked due to a cut phone line or phone company trouble. Most alarm system cellular units hit at least two towers and many times three. Cellular connections are VERY fast. It is also more reliable than your voice cell service.

You can also send signals via the internet. This is nice because like cellular you eliminate a hard wired phone line and is more economical. But an internet connection is vulnerable to interruption and being cut just like a phone line.

There are a lot of other great services that your alarm company can provide you to fit your individual needs: supervised open/close reports, wireless sensors, video tied to the alarm system, remote connectivity to your alarm system via PC, tablet or smart phone and much more. This allows you to access your alarm or view video anywhere in the world. Many of these are not only convenient but critical in business and asset protection.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, surveillance

TIPS TO PREVENT SHOPLIFTING

August 8, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I’m constantly asked on ways to prevent, or stop shoplifting by store employees and managers. They see the empty packages every day and some of them are just tired of dealing with the problem. I have some managers that think by increasing the LP headcount will make a difference, while others want to lock everything up behind glass. How do you prevent shoplifters from targeting your store? Do you lock everything up and use the newest EAS devices to battle the growing shoplifting problem? What if I told you that while EAS devices are a great resource, you can implement several programs in your store that wouldn’t cost you a single penny? Interested yet?

First and most importantly, you have to build an awareness culture in the store. You employees need to be engaged and pay attention to what’s happening around them. Look at your store tomorrow. Are you team members being unproductive, are they failing to greet and assist your customers, are they task oriented? You’re probably going to answer yes to each of those questions and that’s OK. Those are all behaviors that can be addressed and corrected. How do you make them care?

It starts at the top. From the store manager on down, there needs to be clear expectations set in terms of customer service and store standards. Employees that don’t meet these expectations should be weeded out. Customer service is the greatest tool you have. If a customer knows that they can’t walk 10 feet before being assisted by your store, they will most likely return to your store. Likewise, a thief isn’t going to want that much attention and it will drive them away.

Second, start discussing shrink and loss prevention at every store meeting, morning meeting and department meeting. Give your team the knowledge of what is being lost and when. Discuss the top 5 stolen items for the month and the top shrinking department. Talk about known shoplifters and any specific products that are being targeted. This is also a great time for department employees to share new “hot” items that the rest of the store should be aware of.

Third, have a “LP communication station”. In my store, I have a large message board in the break-room. Here, I display the month/week shrink numbers, highest shrink department and top shrink skus. I also include different shrink topics each week so the team members can always gain some knowledge. I also feature an employee each week that has done something that positively impacted shrink. Maybe it was a cashier that caught a price switch, or maybe a sales team member that deterred a shoplifter. It’s a great place to recognize their behavior so they constantly strive to continue their actions to get “featured” again.

Lastly, you need to have a good cashier training program. So much fraud happens on the front end, it’s almost unbelievable. You have customers stuffing merchandise, altering prices, using fake credit cards, phony checks, counterfeit currency, hiding product under baskets, quick change artists and the list can go on and on. A well trained cashier team is your last line of defense against fraud. I constantly hold training sessions with my cashier team. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been with me for one week, or three years. There is always something they can learn to be more aware of how losses occur at their registers. Personally, I hold a contest each month with my cashiers to see who can catch the most amount of theft/fraud. You’d be surprised the results you can get if you offer up a free meal☺.

The greatest part of all of this is that it’s completely free. You can spend thousands of dollars on a camera system, EAS devices and/or a dedicated LP team in your store and still not see the same results as you would by just implementing some of these steps. There is absolutely no substitute for a well-trained and focused employee to prevent theft.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Training

Organized Employee Theft

May 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I seriously try not to be surprised anymore. During any given day, there is no telling what will come across my desk. As an investigator for my company’s Asset Protection department, there are no two days the same. I have two main focuses. One being organized retail theft and the other is employee theft. Ten years in and I haven’t figured out which one I love more. The external cases keep me on my toes, but the employees really do come up with some very clever ways to steal from me. Sometimes the two worlds collide for a case that is truly amazing.

Take one of my stores for example. It was time for their inventory and two days later we get the final numbers. The appliance department shows that it’s in the negative almost $200K. This is impossible. Every piece of equipment delivered to the store gets checked in, so there’s no chance of shipping errors. It’s pretty hard for a customer to stuff a dryer down their pants, so external theft is out. The only other option out there is employee theft. Again though, you would think it would be obvious if an employee was stealing a large bulk item. Unless of course, half the store is in on the theft.

It didn’t take much research after that inventory to find out what was happening. The basic fraud scheme was this. A customer. A legitimate customer would come into the store looking to purchase a new home appliance. After speaking with one of the sales consultants (dishonest employee), the customer would be duped into thinking there is a special clearance item that meets their needs that just happens to be heavily reduced in price. The sales person would then tell the customer that the system was down and that his register was only accepting cash, and that the store was also short on change, so it had to be the exact dollar amount. In all, several steps, but all believable to an honest customer who just thinks they are getting a deal.

Once the sales person would collect the cash (normally about ½ the retail value of the item), they would call an accomplice in the warehouse. A phony pick label would be generated in order for it to be pulled from the warehouse. An AP associate is required to sign off whenever bulk merchandise is loaded, however the majority of this store’s AP staff was unfortunately, in on the scheme. At the end of the night, the cash would be split. For a busy store such as this one, the associates were splitting thousands of dollars a week. This organized employee theft scheme went on, unchecked, for nearly a year.

During our investigation, we found the ring leader of the bunch, who happened to be an AP supervisor for the location. He stated that it happened once for a friend and he saw just how easy it was to make some extra cash on the side. Before he knew it, things had snowballed into a very elaborate, sophisticated and organized scheme. Never before had I prosecuted an employee theft case so large and organized. So organized that the District Attorney charged all involved with Organized Retail Theft, a statute that I had never seen used with employee theft. In total, these 10 or so employees had cost the store nearly $200K in losses. Each one of the employees were found guilty of their charge and due to the dollar values, some of them actually did a few weeks in a state prison.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, security devices

Warning Signals Of Employee Theft

May 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

As Business Owners we are “hit” with something that we did not or could not see coming. A piece of equipment breaks, a key employee is in an accident and gone for an extended period of time, etc. Many times this also applies to employee theft: We simply did not see it coming.

However, there is a difference with employee theft and the first two examples. Employee theft is usually preceded by warning signals. Many Business Owners and Managers simply do not know what they are or do not see the forest for the trees.

When you look at this list, keep something in mind. One of these things, all by themselves probably mean nothing but in my 35 years of dealing personally with 2300+ employee theft investigations, I have found that most of the time two or more of these factors are present in enough time that a responsible party should have seen the warning signals.

Personal behavior is the key area to watch:

1.Double talk or inconsistencies by an employee who is explaining discrepancies or “errors”.

2.Borrowing, particularly from loan sharks, but also habitual borrowing of any kind.

3.Symptoms of a drug user.

4.Admission of theft from prior employer.

5.Violent temper or other unpleasant behavior, which tends to discourage people from asking questions.

6.Expensive habits such as heavy drinking, drugs, extra-marital affairs.

7.Having more money or spending more than earnings could support:

– Flashes big roll of money

– Buys expensive items–jewelry, car, house, boat

– Has expensive hobby

– Always picks up check at restaurant

– Dresses expensively

8.Disgruntled, dislikes boss or company and complains about being underpaid or overworked.

9.Heavy gambling on horses, cards, numbers, sports, etc.

10.Abnormal fear of, or antagonism toward, security or management personnel.

11.Possession of knife, gun or other weapon.

12.Terrorization of one employee by another.

13.Advocating violence as a way to resolve routine problems.

14.Never takes time off or vacation, comes in during vacation or day off.

15.Concealed family relationships among associates.

16.Chronic employee conversations that cease when management approaches.

17.Employees who never make purchases.

18.Employees who are “wary” of members of management.

19.Constant complainers.

Too often, signals pointing to internal theft, even when noticed, are mistakenly ascribed to chance, error, coincidence, or some other benign circumstance…and the signals are ignored.

Remember, a thief, like a magician, depends on you misinterpreting the obvious…or on his or her ability to confuse you. Don’t be deceived, distracted or misled.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Training, prevent shrinkage, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance