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Internal theft does not end with Christmas season www.privateofficer.com
Internal theft does not end with Christmas season http://www.privateofficer.com
Rick McCann
Executive Director
National Association of
Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com
Retail store managers and even their loss prevention departments spend so much time and energy on just six to eight weeks of the year catching dishonest employees that they almost relax and ease up their investigations the rest of the year.
While it is true, that during this busy holiday shopping time usually between November and January 1, many employees are extras and temporary staffers and they often will try to get away with as much as they can knowing that they won’t be there long, theft does not end nor start here.
In fact, the majority of major internal thefts occur during “non-peak” store hours and knows no season. Long term employees make up for the majority of all merchandise and monetary thefts in all types of retail environments.
Generally, the employee who has been stealing a company blind for the past year or since they were first hired six or ten years ago, will almost always lay low during this time frame. They know the risks and have calculated their chances and have probably weathered many a Christmas seasons right there in your store and they know what to expect as far as security is concerned. If it’s a big box retailer with a hundred or more cameras and a full staff of loss prevention agents, the employee knows their routines and they are aware that during this time there is a heightened security awareness and security presence.
While they still may occasionally take something that is too good or too easy to leave behind, as a rule they watch and wait for a slower shopping time with, less floor traffic, fewer managers and security and less competition from the temporary hires that think they’re slick and will get away with the thefts. The seasoned employee thief usually will just sits back and laugh at the newbie’s and probably has already finished all of their “holiday shopping” in your stores months ago, maybe even during the summer months.
Occasionally if the employee is a refunder and has accumulated a closet or closets full of merchandise, they may cease the moment and begin “making the rounds” going to a number of stores within the chain soon after Christmas blending in with other customer returns in hopes that they’ll be able to easily cash-in their wares for cash. I’ve known them to use family, friends, and strangers to assist in this scheme and to travel a route that carries them through several stores. GPS has actually helped these scammers to locate, track, and direct them to their targeted stores making the trip more efficient and less costly on them.
Of all of the dishonest employees that I’ve apprehended, investigated, or assisted in taking down, and there’s been a ton of them, I don’t remember any of them that we apprehended during the Christmas holidays being “long-term” employees. That’s not to say that there wasn’t any, I’m sure that there was but the amounts of the theft were not major and nothing compared to the apprehensions that we took part in during the ‘non-peak” months.
For instance, Mavis was an 18 year veteran of a large, national retailer. She worked her way up from the receiving dock to the floor to department manager and was being considered for an assistant manager position when I notified the general manager that she and two others were under investigation for refund fraud. The store manager was in shock when I laid out the proof that she and the others had been stealing from our store and refunding at other area stores within our chain.
She confessed during the interview that she had started while on the loading dock and that her supervisor back there was also taking merchandise and showed her how easy it was. Mavis in turn told her niece who worked in the infants department and the niece taught her girlfriend who was the manager in woman’s apparel.
During my investigation, none of these employees took anything during the Christmas shopping season and they actually became model employees during that time by working overtime, helping out customers and employees and wearing big smiles and showing their Christmas cheer. Why wouldn’t they?
Just in the refunds that I could prove they did over a two year period added up to more than a hundred thousand dollars between the three of them.
Employees who steal in larger quantities and amounts like the sales floor to be slow and not many people around. They will often hide merchandise under rounders, display tables, behind other merchandise on shelves or in a corner someplace and either pick it up later or have a partner either employee or outside friend come get it just like any other shoplifter.
Some also will” store” their goods in ceiling tiles and in boxes that have other merchandise in it already either on the sales floor or in a stock room. Seldom, will an employee conceal merchandise on the floor and walk out with it. Maybe a novice, a part-timer or a first-timer but not someone who is in it for the long haul. They know they could be seen by management, security or another employee so like most criminals, they prefer darkness, corners, backrooms and quiet out of the way places.
Steven and Cindi were boyfriend, girlfriend, a cute couple working at an upscale retailer in the local mall. Employees loved them, customers always remarked about what a great couple and it seemed like a real love story of two high schoolers who were getting married in just a few months. They had worked part time and then full time together in the electronics department for almost two years and no one ever suspected that they were anything but a clean cut wholesome couple from good families. They never got married and in fact each spent more than a year in prison after they were arrested for embezzlement from the store. They took cash, merchandise, gave away stuff to friends and finally made their way into the cash room and took a large deposit bag that was full of cash. Again, all of their deeds were done for the most part during non-busy times and off season.
If you’re a store manager or a loss prevention agent, make your quick and easy apprehensions during the Christmas season and get rid of those bad apples but to really recover large amounts of merchandise and cash and to get to the root of your internal employee shrinkage, spend your time the rest of the year conducting long term serious surveillance and investigations into employees who have been with the company for 2-10 years or even more and don’t consider that they were employees of the month or the year or that they are just “good” people and “good employees”. When doing this work, you must have blinders on and don’t focus on the individuals background, but rather their work habits, activities and body language. You’ll be surprise at what you’ll find. Happy hunting!
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Security officer killed at Michigan nightclub www.privateofficer.com
Security officer killed at Michigan nightclub http://www.privateofficer.com
The shooting happened Friday night just before 11:30 at Club 310 on Johnson Street across the street from The Dow Event Center. The victim was providing security at the club and police say he wasn’t the intended target.
The incident started as a fight inside the club and then moved into the front lobby, turning into a gun fight that killed the 41-year-old security guard.
It’s unclear what the fight was about or how many people were involved. Two other people were shot, but their injuries were not serious.
The owners of the club could not be reached for comment, but Club 310 is rented out for various events. The security guard did not work for the club, but was hired specifically for the night’s event.
Police are not saying whether they have any suspects in custody.
Club 310 tonight was open for business on Saturday.
PrivateOfficer.com continues to monitor this developing story and will release the security officer’s name as soon as we become aware of it.
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Boise teacher charged after sexual contact with student www.privateofficer.com
Boise teacher charged after sexual contact with student
ktvb.com – A Borah High School teacher has been arrested and charged with sexual battery of a teenage boy between 16 and 17 years old.
Michelle Farley, 40, of Boise, was booked into the Ada County Jail last night.
Boise Police say yesterday they received a report of possible sexual contact between Farley and a teenage boy in May 2008. Detectives found evidence of a crime and arrested Farley Thursday evening.
Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower says this pattern of behavoir goes back to May. At this time, there are no other known victims.
Police say suspect and victim are acquainted. Ada County prosecutors say the victim was a student.
Farley is scheduled to be arraigned in an Ada County courtroom this afternoon. More details about the case should come out in court.
According to Borah High’s Web site, Farley is the chairperson of the social studies department.
Boise School District spokesman Dan Hollar said Farley teaches psychology and has been employed with the district since 1994. They are cooperating fully with police in their investigation. He says it is likely that Farley will be suspended, but that decision has not be made yet.
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High profile arrested subjects use private security to guard them www.privateofficer.com
High profile arrested subjects use private security to guard them http://www.privateofficer.com
NTL. ASSOC. PRIVATE OFFICERS
www.privateofficer.com— When an indicted high profile Bernard Madoff was facing a growing chorus of angry investors this past week and he lost his right to leave his home, he was ordered to hire private around-the-clock security guards to protect him.
Madoff is alleged to have bilked thousands of investors in a fancy scheme that made him millions of dollars. Now he is under arrest and in court ordered seclusion at his house being watched not by U.S. Marshal’s or other law enforcement but by private security officers.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore H. Katz approved the revised bail conditions after prosecutors sent a letter requesting them earlier in the day. The letter, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc O. Litt, did not explain why the bail conditions needed to be tightened.
Madoff, 70, a former NASDAQ stock market chairman, has become one of the most vilified people in America since word broke last week that he allegedly plundered $50 billion from investors.
The order calls for Madoff’s wife to pay for a security firm to provide 24-hour video monitoring of Madoff’s apartment doors. It also requires communications devices and services enabling the firm to send a direct signal from an observation post to the FBI if there is an “appearance of harm or flight.”
“The security firm will provide additional guards available on request if necessary to prevent harm or flight,” the order said.
In Illinois, the governor who was arrested last week for trying to sell a senators seat and other alleged charges has more private security officers surrounding him than police.
While the media still roams around Governor Rod Blagojevich’s home, security officers stand guard keeping a watchful eye on everyone’s movements.
His neighborhood is much quieter now, after his return home last night, especially since he publicly declared his intent to fight federal corruption charges. Meanwhile, impeachment hearings will continue on Monday for the fourth day. Some local legislators say it’s important that they’re taken seriously, and no decisions are made swiftly.
Private security officers are increasingly being called upon to protect the famous as well as the troubled and the high profiled. Public law enforcement will sometimes provide limited perimeter security during major events or for public figures when it becomes an issue of public safety or traffic congestion but normally are not allowed to provide individualized security, a niche that the private security industry has been filling for years.
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Woman robbed and shot at Ohio Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Woman robbed and shot at Ohio Wal-Mart http://www.privateofficer.com
MORAINE OH Dec 21 2008
“The witness stayed on the phone with our dispatch, basically giving us play-by-play directions,” said Moraine police spokesman Paul J. Guess, a detective with the department.
Officers arrested the men at Moraine Auto Parts, 2833 Northlawn Ave., Guess said. One of the men had stolen a purse from the shopper and then shot her, while the other man drove a getaway car, according to the witness, whom police declined to identify.
The victim was putting her newly purchased merchandise into her car in the store’s parking lot when one of the men approached, pulled out a 9 mm handgun and ordered her to hand over her purse, police said. The woman told police that she initially refused, then saw the gun and handed over her purse before she was shot in the abdomen, Guess said.
The woman underwent surgery at Miami Valley Hospital and was reported in stable condition, Guess said. He identified her as a 28-year-old resident of Kettering, but declined to give her name.
Lashawn Porcher and Richard Elijah, both 46 and both from Dayton, were each charged with aggravated robbery and felonious assault, Guess said. They were booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Saturday night, he said.
Walmart spokesman John Simley also said that the woman had been shot as someone attempted to steal her purse. Simley referred all other questions to the police.
Earlier this year, a 63-year-old woman was assaulted in the same parking lot and her car was stolen, Guess said. Moraine police plan to talk with the Walmart store’s management about the security concerns there, Guess said.
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Georgia teacher arrested on multiple sex charges www.privateofficer.com
Georgia teacher arrested on multiple sex charges http://www.privateofficer.com
NTL. ASSOC. PRIVATE OFFICERS
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Jordan High School teacher has been arrested on multiple sexual assault charges.
Claire Richards, 35, was arrested and charged Friday morning with two counts of sexual assault on a person in custody, four counts of interference with custody and 17 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to jail records.
She was booked into the Muscogee County jail at 1 p.m. Friday. Bond was set at $17,500.
Richards made bond about 4 p.m. Friday.
She is scheduled to appear in Recorder’s Court Monday at 8 a.m.
The Muscogee County School District and the Columbus Police Department have been investigating reports of an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a 16-year-old male student at Jordan High School for several weeks.
School district spokeswoman Valerie Fuller said Richards has been employed by the Muscogee County School District since August 2001.
She started as a math teacher at Carver High School and was transferred to Jordan at the beginning of this school year.
She has been placed in an administrative position in the district pending the outcome of the investigation, Fuller said.
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Atlanta police shoot, kill kidnapping suspect www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta police shoot, kill kidnapping suspect http://www.privateofficer.com
An Atlanta police officer shot and killed a man who allegedly had kidnapped a pedestrian early Friday and was being pursued by a patrol car in northeast Atlanta, police said.
The officer fired one shot at the suspect, striking him in the chest, after the man got out of his vehicle and reached for his waistband, said Atlanta police Lt. Keith Meadows, commander of the homicide unit.
The man, George Pierre, 31, of Atlanta ran away, stumbled to the ground, got up and ran into street, where he was tackled by another officer and died.
The shooting happened shortly before 6:30 a.m. near a Waffle House and other shops at Cheshire Bridge Road and Alco Street, near Lindbergh Drive.
It was the second time in as many days that Atlanta police were involved in a shooting — both of which occurred as officers confronted suspects committing violent crimes, police said.
Late Thursday morning, Atlanta police officers exhanged gunfire with an armed man who police said was running from a house in northwest Atlanta that he had just tried to rob. No one was injured, and the suspect was taken into custody.
In Friday’s shooting, Atlanta police had been following the car for about a mile, Meadows said.
The kidnapping victim, an unidentified 31-year-old man, had just left another Waffle House. He was walking along Buford Highway near Lenox Road when two men in a burgundy Pontiac Grand Prix pulled up and forced him into the car at gunpoint, Meadows said.
They demanded money from the man, who said he had to call someone to get some, Meadows said. Instead, the victim called 911 on his cell phone and spoke Spanish to a police dispatcher.
The kidnappers, Meadows said, “didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was actually giving directions to a police dispatcher.”
A patrol car soon got behind the Pontiac and tried to pull it over, but the driver, Pierre, refused to stop, Meadows said. The driver pulled off Cheshire Bridge, stopped in the parking lot of an adult nightclub, 24K Club, and then backed into the police cruiser, Meadows said.
Pierre got out of the Pontiac and allegedly acted aggressively, prompting one officer to shoot.
Police have not found a weapon, Meadows said. The Pontiac had been reported stolen out of Griffin.
The other suspect, 44-year-old John Wright, stayed in the car and was soon taken into custody. He is facing charges of felony murder, robbery and false imprisonment.
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