If You Are Burglarized

Give the police a current list of key-holders or other responsible parties who can respond to a burglary after hours. They need to be able to assist police in determining what has been taken and will take control of the building after the investigation.

If you arrive and find what appears to be a burglary, do not enter the building or touch ANYTHING. Assume that the burglar is still inside; go to another location and call police.

If you are inside the building already and realize a burglary has taken place, do not touch anything, and notify police immediately. Do not open the business until the investigation is complete. Trace evidence is miniscule and easily destroyed or removed. Customers and employees can deposit evidence that can be mistaken for having been left by the burglar.

Be able to identify what has been taken, or seems to be out of place or moved. Try to remember where things were when the business was closed. If something seems tampered with, do not touch it, but point it out to police.

Be familiar with the price range of items you have in your store. You should know an average retail price of merchandise that was taken, as well as be able to find out the replacement value for any store equipment that was taken or damaged.

Give police the names and phone numbers of employees who were working the previous night so officers can ask them if they noticed anyone around or anything odd the night before when they closed.

Be aware that many businesses that are burglarized once, are often repeat victims. If you are burglarized, update your security measures and stick to them. Notify other local business of the incident so they can protect themselves as well. They may also realize that they were burglarized as well, and had not noticed yet. The more times a burglar commits a burglary, the more likely it is that he left some evidence that can link him to a number of crimes.