REDUCING CORPORATE EXPOSURE

There are many structural and procedural preventive measures, most of which do not hinder the corporation’s normal activity, which will tend to deter criminal activity against the corporation or its employees. Ideally, these measures will be so subtle that they will not offend the customers but so apparent that the criminals will go elsewhere.

Realizing, of course,  not all attacks can be prevented, by an individual not rational enough to weigh the punishment against the crime. However,  with this in mind, corporations should have a plan in place to at least minimize  losses, when an attack does occur. So, let’s look at some of the more common types of attack.

The conventional crimes of “robbery’ and “burglary” still exist but in recent years employees and customers have become victims of ” personal’ and ” threat”  crimes.  And, one need only to pick up the local  newspaper or tune in the nightly news, to understand the potential  danger, even to the point of death, of these “personal” and “threat” crimes. An understanding of these increased crimes, along with evaluating their motivation, will make the corporations plans to deter and respond more successful and help ease the danger and loss.

PERSONAL CRIMES

• Invasion of the Home- this type usually occurs at night, for the purpose of holding  the executive captive and demand ransom, be it cash, goods or services.
• Kidnapping- this may involve the adduction of the executive, or a member of the executive’s family. Usually, in a true kidnapping, the criminal  will give the victims family some type proof that the victim is indeed captured and that the victim is alive and well, as the criminal wants only to exchange the victim for something of value.
• Hostage Claim- This crime is similar to a kidnapping , but often involves schemes to prevent the family from determining the executive’s true status.  This type crime, in some instances, may be more dangerous than the kidnapping, as the motive may be politically motivated in additional to monetary gain.
• Threat of Future Harm- This is a very sensitive  crime, as it may be against the corporation, or  include a political motive of even the threat of death or injury, if the demands are not met.

THREAT CRIMES

• Damage to a Public Institution-These type crimes may involved a school or hospital. In this type threat, the criminal will usually go public with the demands, in order to force quick action, which places the corporation in a delegate  position.
• Damage to company property- This differs  from the other types  as a decision demands quick action, as to whether to search or  evacuate the  premises.

MOTIVITION

What is the motivation of such crimes?

• Profit- The criminal hopes to have a monetary gain, in exchange for: his victim, forgoing some future act, or information that will allow the corporation to prevent a future act.
• Revenge-This may be directly against the executive of the company for some real or imagined personal injury, such as being fired from the corporation, or indirectly against the corporation as a highly visible representative of the ‘establishment’ with which the criminal has a grievance.

So, how do we go about maintaining an adequate security plan? The following tips are general in nature, and are only given as an overview of what the plan should consider.

• The plan must start at the top. If the corporation’s executive management is not dedicated to crime prevention, the program will likely fail.
• The plan must be a written centralized policy applicable  to all departments, employees and customers.
• The plan must be a well defined and workable plan,  considering  the corporation’s particular production needs,  the staffing to meet the necessary security needs and the funds to carry out the security program.
• The plan must prove to be cost effective, in terms of documented employee and customer safety and the prevention of loss assets.
• The plan must be constantly monitored, to include the failures and success of the plan.
• The plan must be continuously revised, to keep up with the latest crime trends and security technology’s

Remember! The Corporate Security’s goal is to identify ,  manage and correct any potential threat, against the corporations’ employees, customers and assets.