Theft at Work: How to Find the Culprit with a Lie Detector, Without Random Accusations
The worst thing a manager can do after a theft is suspect everyone at once. A week later the best people quit, and the culprit stays. Here is a sequence of steps that works.
The first two days: record the facts
What exactly went missing, when, how much, who had access. Camera footage, logs, shifts, keys. Without this, any check turns into “are you an honest person”, and the test does not answer that kind of question.
Narrow the circle to those who had access
Usually that is 3–10 people. The rest of the team is left alone entirely. This matters: mass screening of “everyone” demotivates and achieves nothing.
Announce the check
Calmly, without accusations: “We are running a lie detector test for everyone who had access to the till. This is standard procedure.” In a third of cases the culprit confesses or resigns at this stage. Sometimes that is enough.
The test
We come to your office with the EyeDetect equipment. Each test takes 30–45 minutes, 6–8 people per day. The questions are only about the incident: “Did you take money from the till on August 14?”, “Do you know who took it?”. Everyone reads the questions in advance and signs a consent form. A refusal without explanation is information too.
Report and decision
The same day you receive a report on each person: a score from 1 to 99, a conclusion, details. Very often it turns out that two people were involved, or that the “theft” was an accounting error. The result is not evidence in court, but it gives you a basis for a personnel decision, a conversation, or a police report with a clear version of events.
How to prevent the next one
Scheduled checks every six months for those with access to money. The mere existence of checks reduces the number of incidents: people know that missing money will not go unanswered.