The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor FAILURE to implement crime-prevention methods "could be the straw that breaks the camel's back" for many struggling Bahamian companies, private sector leaders warned yesterday, with "slack" businesses more susceptible to internal theft and white collar crime. Previewing next week's Crime Prevention Seminar, which is being held in conjunction with the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Crimestoppers, Winston Rolle, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation's (BCCEC) chairman, said companies that elected to 'save' money by not putting in the required safeguards almost inevitably regretted it. Explaining that the seminar would explore ways to make crime-fighting tools, such as Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems, less expensive for cash-strapped Bahamian businesses, Mr Rolle said: "There's a cost element, but there's a cost of not doing it. "Persons in many cases find that they're not prepared to make the initial investment upfront, but six months down the road say: 'Boy, I wish I'd done something then'. Finding out after the fact is not the way to go." Mr Rolle said a joint survey of the private sector, conducted by the Chamber and accounting firm KrYs Global, found that crime - and the response to the criminal threat - was one of the key priorities dominating Bahamian business strategy and decision-making. While all companies were eyeing cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing strategies to ride out the recession, the BCCEC chairman said: "Crime is very much up there. "The response from the survey shows a number of businesses have taken additional measures, from various perspectives, to prevent themselves from being affected by criminal activities in these tough times. "At this time businesses are trying to manage costs and increase revenues, and any impact from a criminal perspective could be the straw that breaks the camel's back and put you out of business if it's not done properly." Gus Cartwright, proprietor of the Checkers Cafe chain, and chairman of the National Crime Prevention Committee, said it was vital for business owners/entrepreneurs to be "aware" if they were to stop internal theft driven by rogue employees. Suggesting that this was often a crime of opportunity, where workers succumbed to temptation if the proper "checks and balances" were not in place, Mr Cartwright said it was important that staff knew their employer ran "a secure operation". Fear of being detected was a powerful deterrent to internal theft, the Checkers proprietor said, adding that inventory was often an area where major "leakages" took place. "The type of problems we have seen is probably midnight break-ins," Mr Cartwright said of his own business. "That has gone up this year more.... You bar up your place, put in all the measures, but that does not mean they are full proof. "The crime you have to pay a lot of attention to is inventory control. The only way to survive in hard times in this economy is to control inventory as much as you can, to stop leakages as much as possible." "My perspective on this is protection, not only from a criminally-minded society, but people with criminal intent inside the business," Mr Cartwright said. "Our panel will share with the public ways and means of implementing protection against [employee theft], and for employer protection. "If you run a slack operation, you will find this type of thing occurring. We want to make the public, and small and medium-sized businesses, aware of things to look for and guard against. "There's measures you can put in place to stop staff from becoming criminally minded. You put in checks and balances to ensure they know you run a secure operation, and that if they cross the line they will be found out." When it came to the extra costs incurred by Bahamian businesses to protect themselves against both internal and external criminal threats, Mr Cartwright said the monetary aspect was not always the most important. He explained: "There is a cost, but remember that protection costs do not always have a monetary effect..... It does not have to be a large amount of money, but knowledge. An aware businessman is less of a target than an unaware one. It's not always a large amount of money that you need to protect yourself, your family and your business." Mr Rolle, meanwhile, said the joint Chamber/KrYs Global survey had revealed that internal stealing was among the top concerns for many Bahamian companies, especially those in the retail sector. "From the initial survey results we saw, one of the greatest concerns for business persons is white collar crime, or more specifically, employee theft," he added. "The numbers vary from small to significant, speaking to persons in retail establishments." Mr Cartwright added that the National Crime Committee and Chamber had to "be involved from all perspectives" on the criminal front, and not just be focused on the impact on the business community. Focus also had to be placed on the security of Bahamians' home surroundings, Mr Cartwright adding: "We're not only concerned about businesses themselves. Businesses will not function properly if they do not have potential customers. If customers are not free to move about, it will wreak havoc on the business community."