Monday, September 15, 2008

Dealing with employee theft

As the economy weakens, employee thefts, like all other crimes, typically rise. This can cause a small business to face bankruptcy and can seriously damage a large companies bottom line. There are new high tech ways to combat this problem. It used to be that one of the easiest ways was to get someone to watch the suspected employee if the business was open to the public, like a restaurant or a bar. Then, some companies would even hire undercover employees to see what was going on. As technology advanced, we started to use hardwired hidden video. This then gave way to wireless covert video and now one of the best tools we have is covert, self contained video. It is very easy to install, can be put almost anywhere and records internally so there is no need for an extensive monitoring system. This has opened up a whole new and less expensive way to catch a thief in the act. The camera systems are now "pinhole" size and are placed in such things as Teddy Bears, Clocks, DVD players, Lamps, and much more. These systems record for hours on a small SD card and many offer motion detection recording to extend the time that the unit can sit untouched. The SD card can be taken from the unit and the video reviewed on computers or even left inside the unit and plugged into a TV for viewing.
The costs, while not cheap, are typically lower than buying the covert cam as well as the receiver and the recorder. No longer does possible interference come into play or line of sight concerns like we had with the wireless video. The unit is simply placed where it is needed, activated and goes to work.
These have also been used to catch a cheating spouse that has rendezvous at their own home while there spouse is away. The possibilities are endless and the capabilities are many.
We have used this technology for our clients in numerous applications and I'm sure that we will see more and more of these types of cases since they up investigation success rates and are very cost effective.

Until next time
Florida Private Investigator Services