NCJ Number
146028
Journal
Security Management Volume: 37 Issue: 12 Dated: (December 1993) Pages: 34- 36,38
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The director of the security division of a major gasoline supplier tells how his division works.
Abstract
The division provides loss prevention, physical security, security counseling, investigative support, and other special services to the company. When the division was created in 1990, the company conducted a needs assessment survey among employees at all levels of the organization in order to develop short- and long-term strategies. The company wanted to get to the root causes of security problems and avoid a reactive posture. Through focus groups and one-on-one interviews, the company determined that its most urgent problems were a lack of consistency in the reporting of security incidents, and in the rationale for acquiring and implementing security devices; and a lack of loss prevention programs to reduce retail losses resulting from shrink, credit card fraud, and other causes. The division set up action teams and a security database to address these problems. In the executive summary covering the first half of 1993, some of the results were described as follows: 1) 47-percent reduction in security incidents; 2) 50-percent reduction in robbery; 3) 59-percent reduction in marketing security losses; 4) 12-percent reduction in credit card fraud losses, while industry fraud increased by 10 percent; and 5) 1-percent reduction in retail shrink. In a 1-year span, the division produced a 1,000-percent return on expenses.