Small Charities Group East of England Wednesday 16 May 2018 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Small Charities Group – East

• f England

Wednesday 16 May 2018

Profit by Protection

Reducing cing Los

• ss in Charity

arity Reta tail il

• Medium sized outsourced security provider
• Family run business, established in 1919
• £30 million annual turnover
• 5,000 employees worldwide
• 38 offices throughout Europe & South Africa

The Lodge Service ‘Loss Prevention Tool Box’

Risk Assessments Cash & stock loss investigations Gift Aid Audits POS Test Purchasing Mystery Shopping Loss Prevention Awareness Training CCTV Staff searches Security Compliance audits

Retail crime cost UK retailers £700 million during 2016 – 17, an increase of 12% compared to the previous year Customer theft accounted for 75% of all retail crime Theft by employees fell to 6% Once an employee starts stealing, they will continue until their crime is detected

Source: British Retail Crime Survey 2016

No precise figures available for charity retail sector Lodge Service have carried out 96 investigations since Jan 2018 Prevalent offences involve cash at the point of sale theft, refund fraud and theft of stock

10% of people will never steal 10% of people will always steal 80% of people will steal if they have the opportunity (and think they’ll get away with it!)

‘4 out 5 people think it’s okay to steal from the workplace’

Daily Mail Survey

Motive / Desire Risk of Detection Opportunity

Need Greed Low morale Revenge / grudge against employer Physchological (‘Kleptomania’)

Motive / Desire Opportunity

Risk of being caught What barriers are in place to reduce the opportunity for theft? How easy is it to commit the theft? What is the ability of the individual to commit the offence? Proactive managers and staff – ‘shrink awareness’ Culture within the business Effective policies and procedures Measurement to ensure compliance with agreed routines Robust investigation of identified non- compliance

38% 8% 5% 24% 8% 11% 6% Under ringing Last item void Refund fraud Theft of stock Gift Aid fraud Sweethearting Banking discrepancies

Lodge Service have carried out 96 investigations since Jan 2018

An Area Manager was concerned about the quality of donated items & the store takings were down. It was suspected that the Shop Manager had been stealing stock A staff search caught the Manager removing 15 items of jewellery & glass ornaments; she was found to have been running an e-Bay site for 18 months

The Case of the Missing Stock

A small charity were concerned that a member of staff was under- ringing items at the till point. Lodge Service carried out a series of Test Purchases and discovered the ASM was pocketing the cash on a regular basis. He admitted the theft during interview - the charity decided to dismiss him but not to prosecute

The Case of the Missing Money

A routine audit revealed that a furniture shop manager was processing an unusually high volume of customer refunds An investigation revealed that the manager was using discarded customer receipts to process fraudulent refunds – worth over £13,000 over the last 4 years

The Case of the Mysterious Refunds

A shop was found to be claiming Gift Aid take up of over 85%, compared to the company average of 34% Spot checks and a further investigation established that the shop manager was claiming Gift Aid on the majority of donated stock, irrespective of the tax status of the donor

To Gift Aid or Not to Gift Aid

CUSTOMER THEFT

A thief will want to enter a shop with 3 things in mind: 90% of customer theft in small shops is carried out by amateurs ‘opportunist theft’

To be unnoticed To be able to conceal stock To leave the shop without confrontation

Theft –‘the intention to dishonestly and permanently deprive you (and your shop!) of its property’

Are they…………

Attempting to avoid attention? Being overly friendly – are they distracting the staff? Sweating or looking flushed – excited or nervous? Repeated browsing, picking up and putting back the same item, loitering at displays, eyes wandering, paying little attention to the product Looking around the shop rather than at the items on the shelves? Wearing clothes that are not appropriate for the weather?

Aim – to deter shoplifters from entering the shop and to reduce the opportunity for the

theft to occur

Good customer service = good crime prevention Shop floor vigilance

• Being seen on the shop floor
• Watching out for abnormal or suspicious behaviour
• Engaging with your customers

Consider merchandise layout - keep valuable items furthest from the exit Use display cabinets for small, attractive and valuable items Use mirrors to reduce blind spots Closely monitor the use of changing rooms

Ways of Reducing Opportunities for Staff and Customer Theft

Staff presence on shop floor Monitor use of changing rooms Loss prevention awareness Goods removed process Staff purchase process Staff lockers Regular banking Issue till receipts Till logged of when not in use Till not left unattended High levels of customer service Greet customers Codewords Store layout Crime partnerships PCSO liaison

Small Charities Group – East

• f England

Wednesday 16 May 2018