Crime Prevention

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• Provide training for all employees—including cleaning staff—so they are familiar with security procedures and know expectations.
• Provide training for all employees on security procedures and performance expectations.
• Use good locks, safes, and alarm systems. Refer questions about the best products available to local law enforcement officials.
• Keep detailed, up-to-date records and store back-up copies off premises. If a business is ever victimized, the owner can assess losses more easily and provide useful information for law enforcement investigations.
• Establish and enforce clear policies about employee theft, employee substance abuse, crime reporting, opening and closing the business, and other security procedures.
• Mark equipment—registers, adding machines, calculators, computers, and typewriters—with an identification number (for example, tax identification or license number).
• Post the Operation Identification warning sticker in a storefront window. Keep a record of all identification numbers off premises along with other important records.
• Consider the cost of each security improvement made against the potential savings through loss reduction. Remember to assess the impact on employees and customers. Since crimes against businesses are usually crimes of opportunity, failure to take good security precautions invites crime into a business.

• Make sure all outside entrances and inside security doors have deadbolt locks. If you use padlocks, they should be made of steel and kept locked at all times. Remember to remove serial numbers from your locks, to prevent unauthorized keys from being made.
• All outside or security doors should be metal-lined and secured with metal security crossbars. Pin all exposed hinges to prevent removal.
• Windows should have secure locks and burglar-resistant glass. Consider installing metal grates on all your windows except display window. Remove all expensive items from window displays at night and make sure you can see easily into your business after closing.
• Light the inside and outside of your business, especially around doors, windows, skylights, or other entry points. Consider installing covers over exterior lights and power sources to deter tampering.
• Check the parking lot for good lighting and unobstructed views.
• Keep your cash register in plain view from the outside of your business, so it can be monitored by police during the day or at night. Leave it open and empty after closing.
• Be sure your safe is fireproof and securely anchored. It should be kept in plain view. Leave it open when it's empty, use it to lock up valuables when you close. Remember to change the combination when an employee who has had access to it leaves your business.
• Before you invest in an alarm system, check with several companies and decide what level of security fits your needs. Contact your local law enforcement agency to recommend established companies. Learn how to use your system properly. Check the system daily, and run a test when closing.

• Greet every person who enters the business in a friendly manner. Personal contact can discourage a would-be criminal.
• Keep windows clear of displays or signs and make sure your business is well-lighted. Check the layout of your store, eliminating any blind spots that may hide a robbery in progress.
• Provide information about your security systems to employees only on a "need-to-know" basis. Instruct your employees to report any suspicious activity or person immediately and write down the information for future reference.
• Place cash registers in the front section of the store. This increases the chances of someone spotting a robbery in progress and reporting it to the police.
• Keep small amounts of cash in the register to reduce losses. Use a drop safe into which large bills and excess cash are dropped by employees and cannot be retrieved by them. Post signs alerting would-be robbers of this procedure.
• Make bank deposits often and during business hours. Don't establish a pattern, take different routes at different times during the day. Ask a police officer to escort you to the bank whenever possible.
• Ask local law enforcement what to do in case you are robbed. Make sure your address is visible so emergency vehicles can easily find your business.
• If you or your employees are confronted by a robber, cooperate. Merchandise and cash can always be replaced -- people can't!

• Train employees to follow each credit card company's authorization procedures.
• Be skeptical of a customer with only one credit card and one piece of identification.
• Be aware of the customer who makes several small purchases by check or credit card that are under the amount for manager approval.
• Is the item being purchased one that could be easily fenced for cash? (Examples include televisions, stereos, cameras, and other portable items.)
• If you are suspicious of the purchaser, make a note of appearance, companions, any vehicle used, and identification presented. Call your local police department.
• Look for "ghost" numbers or letters. Many times criminals will change the numbers and/or name on a stolen card. To do this they either melt the original name and numbers off or file them off. Both of these processes can leave faint imprints of the original characters.
• Examine the signature strip on the credit card. A criminal may cover the real card owner's signature with "White-Out" and sign it on the new strip.
• Check to see if the signature on the card compares favorably with the signature on the sales slip.

Source: Credit Card and Computer Fraud, published by the Department of the Treasury, United States Secret Service.

• No perforation on check edges
• Apparently altered writing or erasures
• Water spots or alterations of check's color or graphic background
• Numbered under 500 (new account)
• Post-dated
• Glossy rather than dull finish of magnetic ink
• Signature does not match imprinted name and ID

• Keep the store neat and orderly. Use mirrors to eliminate "blind spots" in corners that might hide shoplifters. Merchandise should be kept away from store exits to prevent grab-and-run situations.
• Keep displays full and orderly, so employees can see at a glance if something is missing. Keep expensive merchandise in locked cases. Limit the number of items employees remove at any one time for customers to examine.
• Design the exits of the business so all persons must pass by security personnel or store employees. You may want to use an electronic article surveillance system or other inventory control devices.
• The cash register should be inaccessible to customers, locked, and monitored at all times. Place it near the front of the store, so employees can also monitor customers coming and going.
• Dressing rooms and rest rooms should be watched at all times. Keep dressing rooms locked and limit the number of items taken in.

• Protect your business by installing and using good lighting and locking gates. Eliminate places where someone might hide, such as trees, shrubbery, stairwells, and alleys.

• Establish a written policy that outlines employee responsibilities, standards of honesty, and general security procedures and consequences for not following them. Make sure new employees read it, understand it, and sign it as a condition of employment.
• Follow strict hiring practices. Verify all information and contact all the references listed on an application. Consider running a credit check.
• Keep accurate records on cash flow, inventory, equipment, and supplies. Have it checked regularly by someone other than the person responsible for maintaining it.
• Limit access to keys, the safe, computerized records, and alarm codes, and engrave "DO NOT DUPLICATE" on store keys. Change locks and access codes when an employee is terminated.
• If internal theft is discovered, take action quickly. Contact your local law enforcement agency and be sure to send a message to your employees that theft will not be tolerated.
• Reward employees for uncovering security problems and for doing a good job.