In a speech on best practice and employee-related crime, recorded at SMT’s The Threat Within conference, Sharon Kerr said current crime prevention techniques used by some businesses may actually be linked to the incidence of crime.
“If main doors are left unlocked and unsupervised, where workers continue working late into the night, the risks of becoming a victim are enhanced,” she warned.
Conference-goers were told that all aspects of organisations, including their activities, equipment and personnel should be assessed when taking security risk into account.
“Given that there are limits to what the police can do to protect businesses against crime I think it’s important that they understand the patterns of risk against them,” Kerr said.
“Against a backdrop of competing demands for policing, an increasingly sophisticated approach to crime prevention is required.”
Victimisation
Kerr said the scale of a business can determine its level of victimisation. And, she told delegates, analysis has shown that the more employees a company has, the more likely it is to become a target for insider crime.
Poor vetting procedures were blamed for the results of one 1990 study, which revealed that some 20 per cent of staff would be willing to steal based on the assumption that whatever they can get away with is theirs. Kerr said she feels that, in 2007, that percentage was “substantially higher”.
Delegates learned that some businesses may be prepared to accept a level of crime because it makes financial sense for them to do so. But, Kerr warned, this emboldens criminals, raises crime rates and creates a culture where crime is acceptable.
Free prevention measures
Throughout Kerr’s half-hour presentation, which you can listen to in full below, Kerr suggested that crime prevention is not the sole responsibility of the police and that private sector practitioners must work hard to beat The Threat Within. The good news?
“More often than not, the most effective crime prevention measures are free,” Kerr said.
“It’s your reception staff, your internal audits and the screening of potential employees. All of these can play a major preventative role.”
Click play to listen to the free seminar in full.
Sharon Kerr’s speech is also available as part of the info4security podcast, which brings you free audio seminars, advice and updates on a regular basis. Click here to subscribe.
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