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Note: See bottom of page for links to our related services for this type of crime O F & A Consulting deals with numerous theft cases each year. Theft within the workplace in South Africa is ever increasing and no business is immune from the threat of this crime.
Things you can do to assist in the investigation
Any business relies on a certain amount of trust in its employees and there is no way of completely ruling out the opportunity for unethical employees to steal a company's product or equipment. It is important, in the event of such a loss, to:
Gather all documentary information relating to the loss as quickly as possible before it is either lost or destroyed by the same persons who committed the crime. Contact us as soon as possible after the discovery of the loss since time erodes peoples' memory and allows the perpetrators and potential witnesses to offer only a vague recollection of events which makes investigation more complicated. Furthermore the longer you wait before taking action the less likely you are to recover your stolen assets. Avoid discussing any evidence which points to a particular person or employee with that person unless the evidence itself conclusively proves the case against that person. The reason behind this caution is that by "showing your hand" you allow the perpetrator time to devise an explanation and attempt to talk his way around the evidence.
How we would approach a typical theft investigation
Our approach to such investigations will depend on the following: 1. The Evidence At Hand (A) Some Evidence In those cases where there is evidence pointing in a specific direction our trained investigators have shown an excellent history of obtaining as well as pursuing evidence and liasing with the various law enforcement bodies in order to affect arrests, conduct searches of premises where stolen property is thought to be stored and vigourously pursue cases to finality. The success of many investigations is dependent on the persistence and determination of the investigator. In theory there is no such thing as the "perfect crime" and therefore the perpetrator will always be susceptible to identification and sanction when a case is properly investigated. This is the driving thought behind our work and history shows our application of this principal of thinking. (B) Less than clear Evidence If there is only some indication as to a general group of possible suspects we may suggest polygraph (lie detector) examinations in order to further the investigation. This can often be the most direct and effective approach in establishing the identity of the perpetrator where the evidence at hand is vague or even non existent. There are, however, cetain criteria that an employee must meet in order to qualify as a suitable candidate: (i) The person should be in good health. (ii) The person should be litterate. (iii) The person must consent Once the perpetrator(s) has/have been indentified we have the capabilities to pursue the investigation with focus on that specific person or persons. (C) Conclusive Evidence Even if the evidence appears to be overwhelming it is advisable to have a trained investigator confront the person concerned with the evidence to avoid the suspect sidestepping a full admission. You should never underestimate the ability of the perpetrator to deny the crime despite the evidence. 2. The Nature of the Theft It is necessary to distinguish between a specific incident of theft such as, theft of cash from a safe, for example , and general petty theft from the office. (A) Specific Theft Specific theft will most often warrant an immediate commencement of an overt investigation. This would mean that we would advise on a plan of action that best suits the case scenario and people would be made aware and informed of the loss that has occurred. A specific incident of theft has its benefits in terms of investigation in that there is a focus in terms of time frames and movements of persons etc. As mentioned above there is a necessity to act quickly on the discovery of the theft. People committing theft are most often cautious not to leave a trail of evidence or to be seen committing the crime. This raises the necessity for trained professionals to interview various staff using specific techniques which rely more on the individual's behaviour as a means to identify a suspect than evidence in the form of a witness, fingerprints etc. The "guilty" party behaves and responds differently under properly structured questioning compared to the "innocent" person. Once a suspect or group of possible suspects have been identified we can proceed with further steps such as polygraph examinations to conclusively identify the perpetrator. With the perpetrator identified we would be able to focus further investigation towards that person to prove the case. (B) Petty Theft This is a common problem in many work places. Here the approach is different since you may be faced with different persons committing different thefts. It is also often difficult to define the field of possible suspects into a feasible size for the purpose of investigation. It is preferable to act on the first theft that is reported since our experience shows that failure to do so will result in the escalation of the frequency and severity of these thefts. Should you have already suffered numerous losses to the point where you now require action to be taken we would suggest a method of investigation other than that described above unless you are prepared to concentrate the investigation on the most recent specific incident. We can not discuss the alternative approach here since it may erode the effectiveness of the methodology employed. We would prefer to arrange a consultation with you to discuss this approach further.
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