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Crime Exposures - Risk Control

• No one knows how much business this country


loses to crime each year.

• Loss is in the billions of dollars and is estimated


(conservatively ) at between 2% and 5% of the
gross revenues of business.

• The actual loss may be even higher because of


undiscovered crime.

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Crime Exposures - Risk Control

• This may be partly because the organization does


not have a good record and inventory system and
management does not realize how much
merchandise is unaccounted for.
• The fact that many criminal losses are not
detected obviously makes insurance an
inappropriate approach to dealing with such
losses.

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Crimes Against Business

There are six broad types of criminal loss suffered


by businesses and other organizations:
burglary
robbery
shoplifting
forgery
bad checks
employee thefts

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Robbery

Refers to taking property in one of two ways:


(1) by inflicting violence on the custodian of the
property or by putting the custodian in fear of
violence, and
(2) by any other obviously unlawful act witnessed
by the person from whom the property is taken.
The infliction of violence or putting the victim in
fear of violence includes killing or rendering the
victim unconscious, but also includes armed
hold-ups.
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Burglary

• Burglary consists of stealing property when the


premises are not open for business by a person
or persons making forcible entry into the
premises.
• Insurance policies covering loss by burglary
typically require visible evidence of forcible entry
into the premises or forcible exit.

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Theft

• Theft is much broader in meaning than either


burglary or robbery, includes any illegal taking of
property, thus embracing both burglary and
robbery.
• It includes shoplifting losses, but could also
include taking property through fraud.

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Forgery

• Forgery is the crime committed when someone


falsifies an authorized signature on a check or
other financial instrument or modifies a check or
order to pay by increasing the amount payable.
• It also includes altering the payee.
• Forgery crimes may be committed by employees
or by nonemployees.

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Bad Checks

• Crimes involving bad checks are distinguishable


from forgery losses.
• Bad check losses may involve insufficient fund
checks or nonexistent account checks issued in
payment for merchandise.

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Loss Control and Crime Generally

Because criminal acts are acts of people,


techniques aimed at preventing criminal loss are
effective in two respects.
• First, they make criminal acts more difficult for
those who are inclined to commit such acts.

• In addition, by making the acts more difficult,


loss prevention and control measures
discourage attempts by criminals.

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Frequency and Severity of Crime Losses

• Most crime exposures are characterized by high-


frequency low-severity type of losses that risk
management theory suggests are most
susceptible to loss control measures.
• The principal exception is the case of employee
dishonesty, where a high frequency of thefts by
an employee over an extended period of time can
produce a high severity loss.

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The Deterrence Factor

• Because crime losses result from human acts,


loss prevention measures can have a dual effect
on the likelihood of losses.
• Like a fire alarm, a burglary alarm alerts friendly
forces that a loss is occurring, thereby permitting
a timely response.
• In addition, burglar alarm also acts as a deterrent.

• The deterrent effect may be the most significant


benefit of crime loss control measures.

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Employee Dishonesty Loss Control

• For most organizations, the risk of loss from


employee dishonesty is the major crime
exposure.
• Employee dishonest is highly susceptible to loss
control measures.
• Properly implemented prevention measures
prevent employee crime, help to detect crimes
that have occurred, and also act as a deterrent.

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Selection of Employees

• A standard loss prevention measure for employee


crime has traditionally been a job application and
background check of individual applicants.
• Based on the assumption that a person who has
stolen once is likely to steal again, a criminal
record was taken as a good reason not to hire the
individual.

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Selection of Employees

• State and federal legislation have made it


increasingly difficult to screen prospective
employees.

• State and federal legislation often denies a


prospective employer information on the criminal
record of job applicants.

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Internal Controls

• When employee theft or embezzlement occurs,


invariably, investigation shows that it was
because of weaknesses in four areas of the
company's policies and procedures.
• These areas are
cash controls
disbursements
accounts receivable
purchasing and receiving

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Cash Control Procedures

• Internal controls begin with proper cash control


procedures.
• Accounting for receipts and accounting for
disbursements should generally be performed by
different persons.
• In addition, the individual or individuals
responsible for recording the transactions in the
organization’s books of account should not be
permitted to perform either of these functions.

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Cash Control Procedures

• As a basic principle, control of records and


recording of transactions should be separated
from the functions of receiving and disbursing
cash.
• Separation of responsibilities with respect to
cash receipts should also be incorporated into
the organization's banking practices.
• The individual who prepares bank deposits, for
example, should be different from the person who
actually takes the deposits to the bank.

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Cash Control Procedures

• Responsibility for actually making deposits


should be divided.
• Bank deposits should not always be made by the
same person; the task can be divided among a
number of employees, with the duty scheduled
among these people on an irregular and random
basis.

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Cash Control Procedures

• All cash receipts should be properly recorded


and documented.

• The documentation should indicate the source of


the funds, which will allow auditors to verify
receipts against deposits. This is accomplished
by monthly reconciliation of the bank statements.

• Reconciliation should be performed by


employees who have no role in either the receipt
or deposit of funds.

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Disbursement Procedures

• Proper disbursement procedures begin with


payment of all bills and accounts by check,
regardless of the amount.
• All checks should be prenumbered and the
disposition of all checks should be accounted for
in periodic inventories.
• “Spoiled" checks should not be discarded; they
should be maintained in the record system along
with cancelled checks processed through the
bank.
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Disbursement Procedures

• There should be no gaps in the numerical


sequence of "used" checks, whether processed
through the bank or voided because of errors.
• Checks should be prepared in a way that guards
against alteration. In general, this means printing
or typing that resists erasure.
• The preferred approach is a check-writing
machine that punches through the paper on
which the check is made.

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Accounts Receivable and Sales Procedures

• Many embezzlements occur in the manipulation of


accounts receivables or in connection with sales
where an employee receives funds directly from a
customer for sales.
• The first step in guarding against loss in this area
is procedures for full documentation of details of
every sale, no matter how large or small.
• A second step is to ensure that correspondence
and other communications with customers about
sales or billings are not handled by the person
who prepares statements of accounts receivable.
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Purchasing, Receiving, and Accounts Payable

• Purchase orders should be handled in the same


manner as blank checks and billing invoices.
• Purchase orders should always be prepared in
multiple copies, with copies distributed to the
party to receive the goods or services and to the
accounting department.
• All purchases should be made on the basis of
formal purchase orders. The only exceptions are
in the case of inconsequential amounts that may
be purchased out of petty cash.

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Audits

• With satisfactory controls in the financial area, an


effective audit program helps to ensure that
control requirements are being followed.
• An audit program should provide for a complete
review of all procedures and control systems at
least once a year.
• In addition, the annual financial review by a
certified public accountant, conducted by most
companies, should review the internal controls as
a matter of routine.
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Prosecution of Dishonest Employees

• The employee who is genuinely afraid of getting


caught is less likely to steal than the employee
who has little fear, either because controls are lax
or from confidence that the employer will not
prosecute if he or she is caught.
• Many employees are reluctant to bring criminal
charges against employees caught stealing.

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Prosecution of Dishonest Employees

The employer who gives the dishonest employee a


second chance takes a risk in two ways.
The first is that the employee will steal again.
The second relates to insurance coverage.
Standard forms of employee dishonesty insurance
specifically exclude theft by an employee after the
employer becomes aware of a previous dishonest
act, either before or during current employment.

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Non-Employee Crime Loss

• Loss prevention measures designed to deter non-


employee crime are difficult to classify because
of the variety of forms that crimes may take.
• For the major crimes of burglary and robbery, the
standard loss control measures are barriers,
alarms, and guards.

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Barriers

• Barriers are the perimeter protection that is


designed to deny unauthorized persons entry to
the premises when they are not open for
business.
• It is an axiom of security management that a
security system is only as strong as its weakest
link; the integrity of a building is only as secure
as its weakest link.

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Barriers

A simple barrier such as a fence illustrates the ways


that barriers can prevent and deter crime.
A fence serves several purposes. The first is to
keep people out. It does this in two ways.
• First, it establishes a boundary and anyone
within that boundary is immediately suspect.
• Second, it physically keeps people out.

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Barriers

Fences are also deterrents.

• Because they can slow a burglar’s escape and


increase the chance of apprehension, criminals
prefer installations without barriers that can
slow their escape.

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Burglar Alarm Systems

• The purpose of a security alarm installation is to


provide prompt warning signals of any abnormal
situation in the area or building that requires
protection.
• Intruder detection systems vary from the simple
electronic switch on a door to solid state audio
microphone analog accumulators that detect
extraneous noises and eliminate the effect of
random noises.

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Types of Alarm Systems

There are three major types of alarm systems:


perimeter systems
area or space systems
point or spot systems.

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Perimeter Alarm Systems

A perimeter system is triggered by penetration of a


structure.
Perimeter systems may be classified as
• partial perimeter systems, which protect
exterior doors, windows, and other openings,
and
• complete perimeter systems, which also
protect not only doors, windows and openings,
but walls, ceilings, and floors as well.

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Area Systems

An area or space system is triggered by penetration


of the interior of a room or building.
• An ultrasonic system saturates the area with
high frequency sound waves that trigger the
alarm if interrupted.
• A microwave system produces a train of waves,
which are partially reflected back to an antenna
and trigger the alarm if interrupted.
• Radar systems operate in much the same way as
microwave systems.
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Alarm System Transmission Lines

Alarm system transmission lines are classified as:


(1) local station alarms
(2) central station systems
(3) remote station alarms, and
(4) proprietary alarm systems.

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Local Station Alarms

• A local station alarm simply sounds a bell, siren,


horn, or a similar device at the premises in the
event of a burglary.
• There is an on-going argument about local
alarms, since they do not notify authorities that a
crime is in progress.

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Central Alarm System

• A central alarm system is a system that is owned


and operated by a private security firm (such as,
for example, American District Telegraph, or ADT)
for the protection of its customers.
• The security service firm notifies police and/or
sends its own security personnel to the premises
where the alarm is triggered.

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Remote Station Alarms

• A remote station alarm is one that is directly


wired to the off-premises office of a fire
department or police station or the owner of the
protected property.
• Normally, a remote station alarm is wired directly
to the police or fire department station.

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Proprietary Alarm Systems

• A proprietary alarm system is similar to a central


station alarm, but in which the alarm sounds at a
central office in the protected premises.
• A proprietary alarm system is appropriate when
the organization maintains it own security
personnel who can respond to the alarm.

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Hold-Up Alarm Systems

• Hold-up alarm systems are widely used by banks,


financial institutions, jewelers, and other
organizations using central station, police, or
other response termination alarm systems.
• A variety of activating switches are available for
such systems.
• Money clip switches installed in cash drawers are
activated by removal of currency, which activates
an electronic contact, triggering the alarm.

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Cash Handling

• First, the amount of cash on hand should be


limited to the amount to meet actual
requirements.
• Reasonable security measures should also be
implemented for cash off premises, such as when
cash is being conveyed to the bank by a
messenger.

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Safe Security

• Safes differ significantly in their resistance to


burglary.
• Safes with an Underwriters Laboratory label will
indicate the burglary resistant rating of the safe,
which is usually expressed as a delay time—the
minimum period that it will require a burglar to
penetrate the protection.

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Safe Security

• The safe should be fastened in place so burglars


cannot carry it off to be opened at their leisure.
• It is also advisable for the safe to be placed
where it is visible from the exterior.
• Combined with an alarm system, a safe provides
protection in depth.

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Safe Security

• The combination should be changed whenever


there is a turnover in personnel and a person who
leaves knows the combination.
• The number of persons who have access to the
combination should be limited to those for whom
the knowledge is absolutely necessary.
• Responsibility for locking the safe at night should
be assigned as a specific duty to an individual or
individuals.

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Safe Security

• In some instances, the safe should be locked not


only at night, but in the daytime whenever access
to the contents is not required.
• Employees, salesmen, deliverymen, or customers
may take advantage of an unlocked safe.
• In the case of a robbery, opening the safe will
delay the hold-up and some robbers may be in
such a hurry that they will not even require it to
be opened.

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Vaults

In addition to the guidelines for safes, additional


considerations apply to vaults.

• Vaults should have ventilation in case of lock-in.

• In addition, it is good practice to have an alarm


button inside the vault.

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Merchandise Security (Shoplifting)

• Merchandise security relates to the shoplifting


exposure. Shoplifting losses are second only to
employee-dishonesty losses in magnitude.

• A wide variety of anti-shoplifting strategies can


be employed, some highly sophisticated and
some simply common-sense.

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Merchandise Security (Shoplifting)

Examples of common-sense merchandise security


measures include the following.
• Serial numbers on high-ticket items should be
recorded.
• Alternate the direction in which the hangers
holding high-value items are hung so that an
armload can't be lifted off at one time.
• Limit access of customers, delivery-persons,
and others to stockrooms.

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Notify Police and Prosecute

• Failure to prosecute shoplifters--even "first


offenders"--encourages shoplifting.
• It is best to operate on the premise that he who
steals will also lie, and the standard operating
procedure should be to call the police.
• Hardened professionals are deterred and
amateurs will think twice before yielding to the
temptation to pocket a choice item.

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Protective Personnel and Devices

• Protective devices help to discourage borderline


shoplifters—ones who don't steal unless the
coast is clear—and to trap bold ones.
• Large stores use uniformed guards and plain-
clothes personnel who serve as a reminder to
patrons that only legally purchased merchandise
may be removed from the premises.
• The most effective deterrents to shoplifting are
the electronic devices that expose the shoplifter
by sounding an alarm when goods are stolen.
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Other Security Measures

• Guards
• Use of Dogs for Asset Protection
• Closed Circuit Television

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Outside Crime Control Services

• An outside security professional can do much to


cut down or prevent profit siphoning due to lax
controls. Frequently, they are consulted only after
a serious problem has become apparent.
• They provide every kind of security service,
including electronic surveillance, guard service,
pre-employment investigation, hand writing
experts, workers compensation, and insurance
claims investigation, as well as security
consultation.

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Security Standards

• One of the most widely circulated sources of


security standards is the Industrial Security
Manual (ISM) of the Department of Defense.
• Although the ISM is mandatory only for those
suppliers, it contains a great wealth of security
information that may be useful to business
organizations.
• The ISM is supplied directly to the regulated
contractors, but is available to anyone else
through the U.S. Government Printing Office.

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