Consider the following:

Over 90% of burglar alarm activations are false alarms. If a thief knows that it will take 8 minutes for someone to respond to an alarm, but only 3 minutes to take the pre-selected item, the alarm system offers little deterrence. The U.S. Army conducted tests to determine how long it would take one man, with the help of a second man, to get over the kind of barbed wire topped chain link fence commonly used at industrial sites. The best time was 4 seconds! Dogs will alert to sounds and smells, but when outdoors most dogs are very vulnerable at the hands of a determined thief. There is no such thing as a pick-proof lock. Locks will slow down, but not stop a burglar. Relatively few occupational fraud and abuse offenses are discovered through routine audits. Most are discovered from tips and complaints. Studies show that companies with less than one hundred employees were the most vulnerable to fraud and abuse. Losses from fraud caused by managers and executives are sixteen times greater than those caused by non-managerial employees. Murder is the number one cause of death for women in the workplace. Thirty percent of employment applications contain false statements. More than twenty percent of business failures can be traced to employee fraud and theft.

Professional security managers rely upon an integrated system of people, devices and procedures to protect the assets of organizations ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations. Included in these systems are employee screening, background investigations, disaster planning, personnel security, physical security, security awareness training, employee hotlines, alarm systems, security guards, employee integrity investigations, operations reviews, security surveys, and other components.

There are no magical or secret methods in the protection of assets field. The application of specialized knowledge and experience is all that is required for success. Two professional certifications are available to security practitioners. They recognize expertise and achievement in different, but complimentary aspects of organizational security.

The 31,000 member American Society for Industrial Security coordinates a program for Certified Protection Professionals. This designation requires the candidate to demonstrate experience and knowledge of topics such as personnel security, physical security, emergency planning, legal matters, investigations, substance abuse, protection of sensitive information, loss prevention and security management. Worldwide, there are almost 4,000 security professionals who hold this certification. Further information can be found on the internet at http://www.asisonline.org.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is the sponsor of the Certified Fraud Examiner program. A Certified Fraud Examiner is a specialist in the detection and /or deterrence of a wide variety of fraudulent conduct - from discovering employees or executives who misappropriate company assets to assisting investors who are defrauded in the course of commercial transactions. There are approximately 25,000 members in this organization, to include both associate and certified members. Further information can be found on the internet at http://www.cfenet.com.