How To Respond to a Retail Store Robbery
It’s a scary and depressing situation to find out that your retail store has been robbed. Maybe you are notified by your alarm system provider or maybe you remotely see the footage from your security cameras. Maybe you pull up to work one day and find the front door kicked in. No matter how you discover that you’ve been robbed, it’s a tough situation to deal with.
Here is what to do if your retail store has been robbed.
Stay Calm
You’ll likely be very emotional during this time, but it’s important to stay calm and act rationally. If you make decisions based on anger or fear, you could make big mistakes. You’ll need to be calm in order to handle the situation properly and to cooperate with those who are there to help you.
Talk to co-workers, partners, and anyone else who can calm you down during this time. The emotional support will be helpful.
Call the Police
If the police aren’t already on the scene, call them and let them know that there’s been a break-in. Even if you don’t think that anything was stolen, you should still call. Your insurance company will require information from the police report to process your claim. Plus, the more information you provide to police, the greater the likelihood of the criminal being caught.
While you will understandably be upset, it’s important that you cooperate with the police.
Don’t Touch Anything
If you can avoid it, don’t touch anything in your store until the police arrive. In fact, you may not want to enter the property if you don’t have to. The police will want to see the situation untouched so they can investigate and get a better idea of what happened.
Take Pictures
While you shouldn’t touch anything, it’s a good idea to take some pictures. Try to do so without disturbing anything. You may also want to jot down some quick notes about the scene. Provide this information to police when asked.
File Reports and Insurance Claims
The sooner you file a police report, the better. Once the police to investigate the crime, ask them to walk you through the process of filing a report. After you’ve completed the report, call your insurance company. They will ask for the police report number.
The insurance company will help arrange for emergency repairs. For example, if your door was kicked down, they’ll help you get a replacement as soon as possible.
Your insurance company will also ask you for a list of the items that were stolen and property that was damaged. If you don’t know exactly what items were stolen yet, tell the representative that you will prepare a list.
The insurance company will likely send out an adjuster to review your property and coordinate a plan to restore your retail store to the state it was in before the break-in.
Take Stock of What Was Stolen
You will need to provide your insurance company, and likely the police, with a list of items that were stolen or damaged in the robbery. Once it is safe to do so, walk around your location and take note of anything that was stolen or damaged
Audit and Improve your Security
Once you have recovered from the break-in, it’s important to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Review your store’s security tools and look for weaknesses. Obviously, the way you were robbed this time was a weakness, so you will want to patch up that security hole right away.
However, don’t make the mistake of only protecting yourself from the exact same type of crime. Criminals can strike in many different ways, so you’ll need a comprehensive security solution that includes physical security to keep criminals out.
Want some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business? Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
