Get the Latest Video Surveillance News & Solutions

Recession Crime: 21 Ways to Protect Yourself from Recession Theft in 2009

2009 will be a record year for theft, burglaries and robbery. People from all walks of life are more likely to give in to their criminal impulses during times of increased economic pressures. An understanding of the coming crime wave of 2009 is vital for businesses seeking to stop crime before it starts.

This article first investigates the facts and figures behind the crime wave of 2009 and then outlines 21 methods for protecting yourself from becoming a victim.

Be a hero by forwarding this article to friends, relatives and associates to help them protect themselves!

Contact Pro-Vigil today for video surveillance that fights back. Watch the ABC News Report below to learn more about how we stop crime before it starts:

The Crime Wave of 2009: Facts and Figures
Richard Rosenfeld, a sociologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, told the New York Times, “Every recession since the late ’50s has been associated with an increase in crime and, in particular, property crime and robbery… Typically, he said, “there is a year lag between the economic change and crime rates.”

Law enforcement agencies report an increase in property crimes. “An October survey of 180 law enforcement agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found that 75 percent cited a recent rise in at least one category of property crime.”

Employee Theft Increasing in the Recession:
The Wall Street Journal reports that, “…employers are seeing an increase in internal crimes, ranging from fictitious sales transactions and illegal kickbacks to the theft of office equipment and retail products meant for sale to customers.”

Here’s a video in which we caught a framer sub contractor stealing from the jobsite >>

Unemployment Rates at 16 Year High:
CBS reports that “The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs”

“You see a strong relationship between falling wages and higher unemployment rates for less educated men and crime rates that tend to go up,” Bruce A. Weinberg, an associate professor of economics at Ohio State University, told the New York Times.

Illegal Drug Use on the Rise:
Drug usage – a known fuel for theft and burglaries against businesses – is on the rise as well, as reported by the Kansas City Star: “We’re seeing an extreme uptick in the abuse of pharmacological drugs,” said Jeff Benz, a founder of Mainstream Kansas City Inc., an alcohol and drug rehabilitation and residential treatment center in Wyandotte County. “We have noticed it for several years, but it really became more pronounced in the last few months.”

Shoplifting Increases in the Recession:
CBS reports that, “The bad economy has been particularly hard on retailers, but now they are getting hit again — this time by shoplifters. There has been a shoplifting surge across the country.” In fact, “NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said shoplifting is up 9 percent since May.”

21 Ways to Stop Crime Before it Starts: Protection Against the Crime Wave of 2009
Fortunately there are a number of ways you can stop crime before it starts at your business. This portion of the article investigates methods you can use to reduce and/or completely prevent the crime wave of 2009.

>>Business Security Basics
There are just some things you HAVE to do in order to keep your business secure.

1) Make Someone Accountable for Security
First and foremost you must make security a primary responsibility for someone at your organization. If there’s no one accountable – or if the person accountable is over burdened with other jobs – crime will increase. Give this person proper authority to investigate, question, research, devise and purchase security measures for your organization. This person should be in regular, security-related contact with law enforcement officials as well as the local community to discuss emerging threats and to look for ways to work together more effectively.

2) The Latest Security Technology Advances: Pro-Active Video Surveillance
Video cameras just records theft. Guards fall asleep and are underpaid to the point that they often become accomplices to crime. In a Pro-Active Video Surveillance System live guards watch your property through video cameras. When an unlawful intruder enters they trigger alarms and strobe lights that frighten the intruder away, before they commit a crime. See a video of a Pro-Active Video Surveillance System in ACTION >>

3) Appearance Counts: Invest in Keeping it Clean
Keeping up appearances is proven to send a strong signal to potential criminals that you are not a good target. People and organizations that are lax about appearances are also often lax about security. Though it gets expensive it is vital that you consistently remove trash, rubbish, weeds and graffiti from your property.

>>Preventing Employee Theft
In our experience stopping theft with live theft deterrents and video surveillance we’ve found that a large majority of theft is perpetrated by employees. Here are some tips on stopping theft by employees:

4) Conduct Adequate Background Checks on Your Employees
Make sure potential employees don’t have a history of stealing from their employers, and that all of their credentials and references are valid. Often times thievish employees make great impressions and seem very trustworthy on the surface. If something seems fishy be sure to follow it up aggressively.

5) Demonstrate an Ongoing Determination to Stop Thieves
Conduct nightly “lock down” procedures that show your employees that you’re aware and ready for the potential of burglary and theft. Habitually check your perimeters for access points and check all doors and make this a requirement for anyone in charge of security. Make it plain to each and every employee through word and deed that alarms and other security measures are in place at the end of every day. This will help to cut down on employees notifying more professional thieves of easy opportunities.

6) Open Communication with Employees
Recent studies of employee psychology revealed that: “simply sharing information with people and treating them with dignity reduces their inclination to steal in response to injustice.” Now if all this talk of “sharing” and “honesty” makes you feel like you’re in an episode of Oprah then find out ways to make the communications fit your style. However you do it, telling your employees more about why you’re making the decisions you make will end up reducing the impetus for theft in the first place… and it might help with morale too.

7) Create “Employee Awareness” Programs
In neighborhoods the greatest crime fighter is other neighbors. In your company it’s your honest employees who will be your strongest crime fighters. Encourage them to be aware of where and how theft occurs in your line of work. Inform them of some of the signs to watch out for and encourage them to share tips anonymously through a hotline. Consider adding an award program for theft reduction using a tenth of the budget you’d normally lose to theft.

8) Establish Regular Drug Abuse Checks
It’s an unfortunate fact that often times employees steal to feed their ever increasing drug habit expenses. Establishing regular drug checks will greatly decrease the number of potential thieves on your staff. Once it’s known in the worker community that you screen for drugs, the number of drug-using applicants will drop dramatically.

Also see: Reducing Employee-Driven Job Site Theft

>>Preventing Theft by Securing the Physical Environment
Crime prevention through environmental design is the art and science of securing the physical environment. There are many ways you can secure the physical environment of your business.

9) Provide Bright White Security Lighting
Adequate lighting is shown to reduce criminal incidents. Eliminate shadows completely using bright white light that doesn’t create a glare to potential observers. Lighting enables neighbors to identify threats, and creates enough light to positively identify intruders on surveillance camera. Lighting has the additional benefit of helping customers feel safer in parking lots.

10) Security Fencing to Limit Access
Security fencing is a vital layer to your security program. If the environment requires it, consider higher than normal fences, secondary perimeter fencing, a concrete footing around the base of the fences and even a solid wall.

11) Limit Access with Smart Locks and Access Card Systems
Smart locks and smart access cards can communicate with your activity tracking databases so that you know who has had access to your properties and for how long. With the appropriate technologies you can differ access rights for authorized users from location to location.

12) Adequate Security Signage
Security signage in multiple languages tells potential intruders that their theft efforts will meet with strong opposition. This communication, backed by one or two forceful interventions can spread the word that your operations are not good targets for thieves. Never underestimate the power of communicating to potential intruders that your security team is watching them remotely through surveillance cameras…

13) Conduct Routine Security Reviews
Are all your security lights operational? Have any trees or brush grown up nearby that could allow intruders cover or even a means to climb over fences, walls or other barriers? Are your employees appropriately challenging unknown, unexpected or suspicious individuals? If you’re in retail, are you regularly educating your employees on safely handling robberies?

14) Remote Locks and Non-Reproduceable Keys
Your operations should already have locks. There are other, more powerful locking technologies available though. Remote open locks require activation across the internet in order to open. Non-reproducible keys are manufactured in such a way that the keys are very difficult to open using a thief’s traditional methods.

15) Remove Pay Phones from the Vicinity
Pay phones encourage loitering. When people just “hang out,” robbers become more comfortable in loitering and gathering information that could make you more vulnerable. Further, loitering around your pay phones attracts all manner of illicit trade, which in turn attracts robbers.

16) Enforce a No-Loitering Policy
Get the police involved with loitering reduction. Train employees to notify authorities if there’s an unknown hanging around – especially if they are acting suspiciously. Many ordinances focus on loitering reduction as a means of robbery reduction.

17) Neighbor Awareness Security Program
Any neighbors to your operations can provide an excellent line of proactive defense. Go door to door to meet your closest neighbors and request that they keep an eye on your operations and report any suspicious nighttime activity. Even consider funding or promoting a neighborhood watch program.

>>Preventing Crimes in Your Neighborhood
Starting, joining or revitalizing a neighborhood watch is the most powerful way to fight crime in any community. We highly advise that security-concerned businesses join or start neighborhood watches in their communities.

18) Institute or Revitalize Your Neighborhood Watch
The National Sherif’s Association reports that almost 80% of first responders to neighborhood crime are your neighbors. Crime simply can’t take root in an alert and cooperative neighborhood.

19) Form Up Community Citizen Patrols
As an addition or evolution of your community watch program consider partnering closely with your local law enforcement agency and forming up regular community patrols by neighbors. Find and authorize people willing to volunteer an hour a week for a drive through the neighborhood with a cellphone at the ready. Make sure these patrols are well trained, unarmed and that the patrol members understand how to stay safe in the case that they detect suspicious or unlawful activity going on.

20) Organize Daytime, Neighborhood-wide Activities
Community events encourage natural feelings of neighborliness – and communicate to outsiders that a neighborhood has solidarity. Neighborhood clean up events remove the little bits of garbage and vegetation overgrowth that subtly tells thieves that an area is not well guarded. Monthly clean up volunteers can tackle regular maintenance issues as well as potential vegetation overgrowth or waste that provides cover for criminals. A neighborhood that keeps clean is less likely to seem like a good target to thieves.

21) Provide Basic Home Security Education to Your Neighbors
You’d be surprised how lax most people are about the most basic security habits. Locking front doors is an alien concept to some people. Bringing in your local law enforcement to lead a seminar on basic home security can be a great way to both educate and bring together your neighbors. Also there is a wealth of information available online that will help you to educate your neighbors about the best ways to protect themselves.

Also see:
Effective Neighborhood Security: 10 Strategies for Community Security Organizers
Pool Security: Stop Vandalism and Unauthorized Use at Your Neighborhood Pool

Construction Security Articles by Pro-Vigil:
A Model Home Security Plan: 10 Tips that Prevent Burglaries
9 Ways to Stop Construction Theft During Holidays and Vacations
How Secure is Your Construction Security Fence? 11 Questions to Ask
Secure Jobsite Boxes: 4 Key Features to Look For
5 Security Lighting Tips For Your Construction Site
Security Questioning Tactics for Your Construction Site
A Pre-Job Checklist That Improves Your Job Site Security
How to Analyze Your Job Site’s Security Needs BEFORE the Job Begins
Job Site Security: Establish Your End-of-Day Routine