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Off the Shelf
Our client had a warehouse, full to bursting with valuable
and very desirable stock. In-house pilfering was an ongoing
problem. This became particularly acute at Christmas, when
losses tended to escalate. Many security measures were in
place, including CCTV but these were fairly easily overridden
when a warehouse manager decided to supplement his income
by removing substantial quantities of stock.
The manager made mistakes and was fairly quickly caught in
the act and dismissed with a criminal prosecution to follow.
A problem remained. It was evident the manager had been working
with one or more fellow employees and person(s) on the outside.
We were tasked with trying to identify those involved.
The Police
were happy for us to conduct the investigation. They had interviewed
the manager and he was not prepared to provide any information.
We conducted
a series of interviews on site. These were conducted
informally and staff were invited to offer their views
on where security had broken down and what might be done
to improve matters. They were also invited to comment on
the situation in relation to their recently dismissed manager.
Some
interesting comments were noted and several lapses
of security identified. Certain members of staff were uncooperative
and others expressed some sympathy with the manager.
There was an attitude ‘That
if the directors don’t bother with security then
anyone will take advantage’.
Much
more interesting was the information imparted to
our undercover operative who had been placed in the warehouse
ten days before the interviews began. The relatively
soft approach of the interviews relaxed certain
members of the warehouse staff to the point they were boastful
and very indiscreet. Within two days of interviews,
we had identified three members of staff who were
complicit in the organised theft of stock and who had been ‘assisting’ the
manager in his criminal activities.
Our
undercover operative was also able to identify weaknesses
in security procedures and to prove the point was
able to remove a large quantity of stock, place
it in the boot of his car, photograph it and return
it to the shelves without anyone, or any system
picking it up.
If
you have a security problem call +44 (0)20 7868 1663 |
