What to do if your business is robbed

The safety of your employees and customers, in addition to the prevention of vandalism and theft on the property you use to conduct your brick-and-mortar business, should be your top concern whenever you are open for business. A robbery can take place at any time, regardless of how well protected your place of business may be. Your state of mind as well as the reputation of your company are thrown into disarray when a theft occurs at your place of business. . Keeping this information in mind, however, we will now discuss the steps you need to take in the event that your company is robbed.

Give the authorities a heads-up

After being robbed, the first thing you should do is report the crime to the authorities in your area or call 911. When confronted by a thief, or when they arrive at work to find that your place of business has been robbed during off-hours, each and every employee should immediately contact the authorities. You and your employees are not allowed to touch anything on the property, nor are you permitted to tamper with any evidence that is lying around.

Do not attempt to clean up or repair anything, regardless of how messy or broken it appears. Hold off on moving until you hear from the authorities what you should do after they have finished their investigation of the crime scene. You could throw off the investigation by moving things around while the police are on the scene because they are trained to look at the evidence that is found on the business premises. You will also need to talk to your insurance company and perhaps get an expert witness if there are any discrepancies in the value of your items.

Request that the witnesses remain at the scene

If the robbery took place in an area where there were witnesses present, then it is only natural that the witnesses would want to flee the scene of the crime. However, you should do everything in your power to reassure them that they are not in danger because the police are on their way, and you should request that any customers, employees, or bystanders who witnessed the robbery remain at the scene until the police arrive. Take down their names and contact information if they have to leave or if they refuse to stay, and then inform them that you will give the police their names and contact information if they leave or refuse to stay.

Take precautions to protect the area around your company

After your company has been robbed, in addition to securing the inside, you should also block off the exterior, such as the front area by installing a parking lot and the back area by closing off the area. You can ensure its safety by positioning regular masking tape on the ground outside and informing onlookers to maintain a safe distance from the area in which the masking tape is positioned. When you secure the area around your company, you not only stop curious onlookers from accidentally disrupting the scene, but you also stop people from getting hurt by things like broken glass or broken doors and windows.

After you have ensured the safety of the outside of the business, you should go inside, check to see if any of the doors have been broken, and then lock them. Additionally, you should direct employees and witnesses away from the cash register, the safe, and any other areas that the robber may have touched.

Be careful what details you share and with whom

After the police have arrived and begun their preliminary investigation, you, your staff, and any witnesses who were present may feel the need to discuss what took place. It is possible that members of the press, representatives of neighboring companies, or even former workers who were not on the clock at the time of the robbery will come up to you and ask for details about what took place. It is acceptable to let people know that you were the victim of a robbery, but you should avoid discussing specifics such as the amount of money that was taken. Furthermore, it is important that the total amount of money, as well as the total value of any goods or damages, remain confidential between you and the police.

VOTE!

Part of the solution to crimes like this is to be proactive and make sure you vote for district attorneys who enforce laws instead of being too lenient.  While we don’t like to get too “political” here at Dimple Times, we believe that this is a part of the problem with many crime situations in the last few years.