Loss Prevention......stealing?

[capurato]

Tonight is going to be a first for me. I am going to interview one of my guys for theft of merchandise. He is part time and works at night. His closing partner noticed that the crooked LP never zoned the cameras at night or set them to the overnight a pattern. Instead, the cameras were left pointed at the floor or ceiling. It didn't take long to catch him by reviewing the covert in the LP office.

Anyone interviewed a dirty LP or SO? Being my first I'm going to treat it like any other employee interview and resist the urge to strangle him as now our whole department will have a tarnish mark. Any advice?

[HotelSecurity]

I hope other members of your team don't read this public forum. They now know there is a covert camera in their office.

[capurato]

The camera is coming down after this investigation. We rarely keep coverts in play more than one or two weeks and once investigation is done we move it.

We have overt cameras in the cctv room, detention room and hallway leading to LP office.

[Curtis Baillie]

I've interviewed many LP staff members. They are no different to interview except if they have years of experience doing interviews themselves they can be tougher. Use the scenario of loss of credibility. The worst that can happen to someone in our business is loss of credibility.

[zm88]

I hope other members of your team don't read this public forum. They now know there is a covert camera in their office.

From his posts I've read i haven't pinned down where he works or what region he's in. What i have gathered is he is indeed a professional and I'm sure he wouldn't compromise himself or an investigation.

While working at the rink, the owner had many people interview with me and then hired (even against me sayin NO). THose were primarily the ones I ended up firing or catching in the wrong. As director of security I did have the chance to interview people from other depts. such as snack bar and sales which was always fun seeing how they usually didn't know who i was.

[capurato]

We resolved the investigation successfully. We received full payback on admission.

Thanks for the kind words zm.

Curtis, I did use the credibility rationalization and it worked. Actually an easy interview.

[Curtis Baillie]

We resolved the investigation successfully. We received full payback on admission.

Thanks for the kind words zm.

Curtis, I did use the credibility rationalization and it worked. Actually an easy interview.

That one normally works.

[wiredharpoon]

Glad it worked out for you. Now its time to start to rebuild. At least you got an internal though!

[Squid]

what is the "credibility rationalization"? Is that where you say the only way he can

'regain his credibility' is to admit he was stealing?


What was back up plan?

[Curtis Baillie]

'regain his credibility' is to admit he was stealing?


What was back up plan?

It has nothing to do with the suspect "regaining his credibility." It's about how they can deal with their loss of credibility. Capurato was dealing with an LP staff member who was stealing. One of the things a security, loss prevention or asset protection officer who is stealing fears most, about being caught, is the loss of credibility amongst their peers and family. This is due to the position of trust their position places them in. Using an appropriate rationalization helps belay those fears and make confessing easier.

[Squid]

How about an example of this "rationalization" in simple English.

Pretend you are explaining it to a 4yr old, not writing a Social Science thesis.

How does one "rationalize" their getting caught, fired and upcoming 'discussion' with wife?

What if they aren't married or what if their wife is also shady?


"Using an appropriate rationalization helps belay those fears and make confessing easier. "?????

[Curtis Baillie]

Maybe these two links will help you understand about using rationalization during the interview process:

http://www.reid.com/educational_info/r_tips.html?serial=1167750566162142

http://www.w-z.com/article017.php

Are you familiar with the assumptive questioning interview technique?

[Squid]

semi-interesting stuff, Chris, since I'm taking Pysch101 right now.

Any youtubes of this sort of thing in action?

I sort of remember something like this being used on true crime shows like "24 hours" in integrations.





PS- your links aren't working for your shoplifting etc pages.

[Curtis Baillie]

I'm not aware of any YouTube videos. There are many books on the market that cover this. If you go to the Wicklander-Zulawski website you will find much.

Thanks for letting me know about the link.

- Curtis

[capurato]

You essentially give the person an out. They are not a bad person, they made a bad choice. What happened is over and done with, it's what we do mo ing forward that shows the kind of person we are.

Most employees we use peer pressure or financial issues as a rationalization.