I suspect one of my employees is stealing

[needtoask]

I am a regular with a name change.
Obviously I need proof.
Can I get a security camera installed.
Do I need to inform my staff that I intend to get a camera.
Anyone please help.
Thanks

i think you might have to let them know if you are installing a camera.

how do you know? could it be an outsider or is this not possible?

Are they stealing money or product?

yes you have to tell them you are filming them. you could however do bag searches and pocket searches if it's theft of that nature.

This happened at one of my friends place of work, it was actually a residential home, so they decided to install a tiny camera in the flat where it was happening & left to wage packets on the table, the person who they thought it was did go up to the flat & stole the wage packets, the phoned the police, it went to court.

Not sure if you have to tell anyone else, they didn't at this place because they were not 100% certain who it was but they were proved right in the end.

You are also entitled to do vehicle searches.

Wouldn't there be RIPA implications is start getting camera to spy?

money from the till.

Rule of thumb is you can set up CCTV but you need to tell your staff they are under surveillance.

Two major pieces of law relate to employee surveillance, The Data Protection Act 1998 (relating to images filmed on CCTV) and The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (relating to reading emails, intercepting phone calls etc).

You may need to consider this

if i ran a place with a till i'd have cameras. i work in retail as a manager and wouldn't know where i'd be without the cameras. even having them doesn't stop theft.

Thanks so much.

Good luck with the tea leaf.

can you mark the money?

Over the years we have had a lot of staff theft. The police have always been grateful for our filmed evidence, it has been submitted in court with no problem and convictions have been secured.

For one particularly skilled thief, we had to invest in some new pin-hole cameras, installed in the dead of night and we then caught him the next day.

The only place that we don't have a camera is in the bog and I'm sure a fair amount of theft goes on in there.

I used to work in the security department of a posh Knightsbridge department store and dealt with this problem a lot.

The staff steal more than any customers will!!

What you could do is let them know you are having CCTV cameras installed and maybe put in a couple of very visible ones. Then install a couple of very small pin hole cameras around or above the till area. The visible cameras could even be dummy ones too. This all depends on your budget too I guess!

Good luck catching the little theiving f**r!! If you need any more advice let me know!!

I am only a small business, so I would probably stretch to a camera facing the till area, would that be enough.
a pin hole camera sounds good.
A number of customers have alerted me that she does not ring in services through the till and they have witnessed her putting the money in her purse.
I need proof.

Thanks vim

I would install a very visible camera... because:
It deters theft by customers
It deters theft by staff

Someone who steals with a camera very clearly watching, is just asking to get caught. So either you will notice that the theft stops, or you will catch it happening.

I'm pretty sure a pin hole camera can be bought for about £30, you would also need a VCR to connect it up to. You should be able to get this stuff on ebay.

You do need to inform customers that CCTV is operating in the store, signs in the windows etc.

Have you done any stocktakes to discover losses?

Can your customers tell you what items they purchased and when? Then check the till roll to confirm the transactions were not put through the till.

how well do they know the way the till system operates? (balancing and so forth).

Do you want them to know you are suspicious? If so what I did before was set up till balancing before each operator took over. That stopped things for a while.

Also maybe get a couple of people unknown to the suspect to buy items and report back on whats happened to collect more evidence.

What are your staff searches like?

Obviously would depend on how many staff you have but are you searching staff as they come on and off the floor? (before they have collected their bags/belongings?)

I think you do have to inform staff if you are setting up a camera.

Sorry if this is all obvious.

What type of EPOS system have you got?

Have you got one where you can watch transactions as they are happening from another computer? OR is it a case of getting someone to watch and log transactions and then manually checking the till role?

Is it worth asking the police or CAB maybe to see what they say you can do?

I'm pretty sure you don't need to tell them. You can't put them in places like the toilets, obviously. A shop I used to work in suspected the manager of stealing stock and put secret cameras and a spy member of staff in! But then he did fake a robbery and steak loads on games consoles!

I would think about marking them money. I would do random bag and person searches, as well as regular till counts.

I would highlight to all employees (maybe at your next staff meeting so noone is being singled out and you know you have told everyone) that there are some issues with money going missing and that a camera is being installed to monitor staff and customers. Also make it clear that any person/s found stealing will be subject to internal disciplinary procedures and that the police will be called.

Statements from customers and even a secret shopper are good ideas. If customers are willing to put it down in a statement and sign it then I say that this would be enough to do disciplinary as you need 'reasonable belief' and not 'proof beyond doubt' for internal matters. If you can get a few statements then you can do an investigative interview with the staff member. Just make sure that when you have got enough evidence that you act straight away otherwise you could cause yourself more problems in the long run (with tribunals). I presume that you have a disciplinary process in place - if not I would recommend ACAS guidelines to get one.

I know theft is one of those things that is obviously wrong but then if and when they are caught by highlighting then you know that they knew what the consequences were. It could just act as another deterrent as well.

Why can't you just take the person you suspect to one side and tell them what you have been told by customers, and ask them if this is true?

You are the boss - you do have the right to do this, surely! You're not making a direct accusation of theft but you're asking them for their version of events.

It will, almost certainly, be denied - but it will alert them to the fact that you are on their case and might be enough to stop them in future.