NCJ Number
92072
Date Published
1983
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Procedures for controlling employee theft should cause a work environment conducive to employee honesty, limit the opportunity to steal, detect theft and the identity of employee offenders, and ensure that employees suspected of dishonesty are treated in a fair and legally acceptable manner.
Abstract
The principal means of developing and maintaining a work environment conducive to employee honesty is the selection of employees who will not have a corrupting influence. Employers should check the backgrounds of applicants to ascertain any history of dishonesty. Training of the new employee should also focus on employer loss prevention/security policy, security procedures, and the disciplinary action that will be taken if there is a breach. Procedures to limit or deter theft are a combination of a number of loss-prevention activities. They include physical security control, with the most effective being the physical protection of merchandise or cash from direct access by employees; physical presence controls, which involve the presence of a trusted employee to monitor the actions of new employees; authorization controls; and operational audits and inspections to ensure that security procedures are being followed and to make employees aware that their performance is under scrutiny. In ensuring that employees suspected of dishonesty are treated in a legally acceptable manner, policy issues to be addressed are (1) the implications of an employer or security representative being 'perons in authority' in relation to any statements made to a suspect in an attempt to obtain a confession, (2) the possible need for employers to abide by the Judges Rules (Australia) when interviewing employees detected for or suspected of dishonesty, (3) the right of the suspect to have a witness present during interviews, and (4) the issue of whether the employee is to be considered in custody at interrogation and whether the employer is in jeopardy for false imprisonment.