The Importance of Loss Prevention, and Security within Businesses Essay

The Importance of Loss Prevention, and Security within Businesses - Essay Example From my earliest involvement in loss prevention and security it held a special interest for me. In part this was due to how closely it aligned with the values that I had grown up with, and in part I was fascinated by the level of detail and observation that was required. Theft is an important issue in any industry or setting, such as within hospitals, bars, schools, retail or manufacturing. As a consequence of this the field of loss prevention has developed and has become important in almost every setting. Since beginning my job at Best Buy I have learned a lot about the role that loss prevention plays in retail, as well as methods of being effective in my role. I am currently the manager of the Security and Loss Prevention department at Best Buy. This role has provided me with many opportunities and challenges and it has allowed me to understand the challenges that are associated with security as well as its importance. I have also had the opportunity to do a summer internship at a County Prosecutors Office and to work part time for them following the internship. This gave me the chance to see the police in action and to understand some of the process that occurs. This essay will examine some of the concepts that I have learned in my role Loss is an important aspect of any business. The term refers to the loss of profits due to a wide range of situations such as credit fraud, shoplifting, internal theft, or package theft where some or all of the contents of a package are stolen but not the package itself. Package theft can refer to stealing the contents of the package within the store, or more organized, broader applications such as stealing small packages from shipping containers. Because of this, within any retail store security is extremely important as a method to minimize loss through this means. Different businesses use different methods and strategies of approaching this, and there is no single, universal method of maintaining security. This is because security can be broken in a number of ways, most notably through credit fraud, corporate corruption, and through theft. Theft can occur in a number of different ways and can be the consequence of actions of either staff or customers. As such it is important to have adequate measures of security in place and to ensure that these remain working at their full functionality. Two important parts of loss prevention are avoiding loss that occurs from customers through theft and decietful behavior as well as internal loss from staff and those that have access to business information. Both forms of loss are important, and as a consequence security is important for the functioning of any business. This essay will examine the use of physical security, security actions plans and internal investigations as means of detecting and regulating theft and fraud. Specific examples of types of theft will be examined, as well as a case example of how security is managed in a large business firm. Losses i n retail contribute to significant decreases in the profit a store is able to make. Theft plays a significant role in this, with $107.3 billion lost globally in 2010 as a result of theft . The National Retail Security Survey in 2009 reported that an average of 1.44% of all sales nationwide are lost as a consequence of shrinkage . The term shrinkage refers to the amount of products that are lost between the point of purchase or manufacture, and the point of sale. This loss occurs in a number of ways such as through damaged products and misplaced items. Store managers and those in authority look at many ways of reducing shrinkage of all forms. In 2008, around 35% of this shrinkage was attributed to shoplifting, while 44% was attributed to theft by employees .