To Catch a Thief

Thieves are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to steal from businesses. In early January, thieves carried off about 22,000 pounds of copper telephone wire from the Hutchinson Telephone Company warehouse in Hutchinson. Business insurance will certainly help to ease the blow, but there are things companies can do to prevent theft, fraud, and embezzlement.

Chad Suter, a risk management specialist at the Burnsville office of insurance brokers TrueNorth Companies, LLC, has seen it all before. A collection of expensive and easily resold tools left at a construction site overnight will often disappear by morning. For one of Suter’s clients—contracting company Shotcrete Professionals, Inc., of Mesa, Arizona—the straw that broke the camel’s back was the disappearance of a $60,000 pump. Rather than accept the theft and replacement costs as part of doing business, Shotcrete encouraged employees to be responsible for the tools on the job sites by offering restaurant gift certificates as rewards to workers who were conscientious in keeping track of company property.

"You might say, 'I know this person—they would never steal from me.' That might be true, but what if a new person comes into the job?"

Since they began the program, the company has saved thousands of dollars in tool replacement costs, Suter says. The company is also saving the deductibles on insurance claims it’s not making. In 2006, Shotcrete saved between 10 and 15 percent of the premium on the portion of its insurance that covers equipment that moves from location to location.

There’s no such thing as total immunity to crime. Like Shotcrete, though, Minnesota firms can take steps to reduce the likelihood that they’ll be criminal targets. Doing so can save time, money, and frustration—and reduce insurance rates.