'Tips' For Preventing Crime In Your Business

Every business owner, manager and employee plays a part in making businesses safe. Here are some things you can do to help prevent crime in your business:

• Have at least two employees open and close the business
• Do not release personal information to strangers
• Keep purses and personal valuables locked in desks or lockers
• Place a surveillance camera behind the cash register facing the front counter. Replace videotapes regularly
• Avoid routine hank transactions, rotate banking days and vary times and routes of travel for bank deposits
• Park as close as possible to the location where the deposit is being made - Report all suspicious activities to bank management or staff
• Don’t use marked “moneybags” that make it obvious to would-be robbers you are carrying money for deposit. Carry money in nondescript carriers
• Keep a low balance in the cash register
• Place excess money in a safe or deposit it as soon as possible
• Keep your business neat and clean. A tidy, orderly place of business is inviting to customers, but not to robbers
• Personal appearance, dressing appropriately and being neat and clean also “sends a strong message” to robbers that you and your staff are professionals who are alert and prepared to handle any situation.
• Stay alert! Know who is in your business and where they are. Watch for people who hang around without buying anything. Also, be aware of suspicious activity outside your place of business. Write down license numbers of suspicious vehicles if visible from the inside of your business.
• Make sure the sales counter can be seen clearly. Don’t put up advertisements, flyers, displays, signs, posters or other items on windows or doors that might obstruct the view of the cash register from inside or outside your business. The police driving by your store need to see in.
• Try to greet customers as they enter your business. Look them in the eye, and ask them if they need help. Your attention can discourage a robber.
• Keep your business well—lit, inside and outside.
• Keep trees and bushes trimmed, so they don’t block any outdoor lights
• Encourage the police to stop by your business.
• Learn the names of the officers who patrol your area.
• Use care after dark. Be cautious when cleaning the parking lot or taking out the trash at night, Make sure another employee inside the business keeps you within sight while you are involved in work details outside of your building.
• If you see something suspicious, call the police. Never try to handle it yourself. It could cost you your life.
• Use only one register at night. Leave other registers empty and open. Tilt the register drawer to show there is no money in it.
• Leave blinds and drapes open when your business is closed. This allows police officers to visually inspect the inside of your business. It also makes it more difficult for criminals to conceal themselves and their criminal activities.
• Make sure important signs stay posted. For example, the front door should bear signs that say, “Clerk Cannot open the Time Lock Safe.”
• If your business is robbed put your safety first. Don’t resist an aimed robber. Your personal safety is more important than money or merchandise.
• Don’t talk except to answer the robber’s questions.
• Don’t stare directly at the robber.
• Don’t make any sudden moves and keep your hands in sight at all times, if the robber thinks you’re reaching for a weapon or alarm button your actions and furtive movements may lead the robber to violence.
• Don’t chase or follow the robber out of your place of business, leave the job of catching the thief to the police.
• Consider key control. Are office keys, master keys, safe keys lying about? Do you know whom your keys have been issued or entrusted? If management can not answer these questions, your security risk factor is very high.

• Keep a record of all keys issued. Master keys and extra duplicates should be locked away hr safekeeping. When a particular key is needed, everyone must sign for its use.
• Have all keys stamped with the words “Do Not Duplicate.”
• Familiarize your employees with your security systems and procedures. Efficient, alert, well-informed and understanding employees are necessary to help you protect your business.
• When not in use, gates should be secured with a good padlocks and chains.
• Electronic gates, alarms, closed circuit television, two-way communications and electric-eye openers assist in the detection and identification of intruders.
• Post warning signs encouraging customers and employees to always lock their unattended vehicles and to lock valuables in the trunk because valuables left in plain sight attract thieves.
• Deny thieves access to your roof by securing ladders, pallets, boxes, and crates away from your building.
• Property belonging to your business that must be stored outside of your main building should be protected from vandalism and theft by placing property in a locked storage shed.
• Deny thieves a place to hide by keeping grass and shrubs trimmed and debris cleared away from your property.
• Illuminate your entire property from dusk to dawn to eliminate dark areas that intruders and criminals prefer.
• Install floodlights for alleyways, rear and front entrances and parking lots.
• Lighting should illuminate the roof of your building.
• Install vandal-resistant covers over bulbs and locate fixtures to prevent easy access and to reduce the chance of intentional breakage.
• Thieves prefer darkness. Maintain interior lighting at a level that allows clear visibility into buildings to allow for law enforcement and civilian surveillance.
• Be sure that lights do not shine into the eyes of people passing on the street, motorists or police officers on patrol.
• Inspect your lights regularly. Replace burned-out or broken lights immediately.
• All exterior doors should be constructed of steel or all aluminum alloy or solid-core hardwood. Glass doors should have burglar-resistant glass installed.
• Double doors should he secured with heavy-duty, multiple point, long flush bolts.
• The frame of the door must be as strong as the door.
• Exterior swinging doors should have a one-inch dead bolt with hardened steel insert and a free turning steel or brass taper-cylinder guard.
• All exterior door latches should be of the anti-shim, deadlocking type.
• All outside hinges should have non-removable hinge pins.
• Sliding glass windows and single or double-hung sash windows should have locking pins, bolts, locks or swing latches installed to prevent opening from the buildings exterior.
• Secure all windows. First floor windows should be protected with burglar resistant glass.
• To provide optimum window security install bars, grilles, grates or heavy-duty wire screening.
• Mylar window coverings are inexpensive deterrents.
• Skylights, ventilation openings, air conditioning/heating ducts and crawl spaces are all potential entry points for thieves. Permanently secure these openings by installing metal grilles or grates. If these openings can not be permanently secured, be sure they are protected by an alarm system.
• Install locks on outside fuse boxes.
• Maintain an inventory of all office equipment; include the make, model and serial number of each item. Keep this inventory in a safe place. Keep it current by adding the identification numbers of all new equipment. Engrave your business name and your Driver License number on all office equipment. Secure removable equipment.
• Install convex and wall mirrors. Move high cost merchandise away from cash register. Small, expensive items should be kept in locked display cases.
• Anchor your safe firmly to the floor.
• Standing safes should be illuminated and visible from outside.