Simulation Question 5-4

This simulation question is based upon a true set of facts; however, the names and places have been changed. The information contained in the simulation question was obtained from publicly available sources.

Why is the COP not Interested in Employee Theft?

ObL is a cashier/server at a local Starbucks Coffee store. Starbucks Coffee Company has a policy that tips are to be pooled among the cashiers/servers. Accordingly, each night the cash tips are collected, pooled, and divided up among the various cashiers/servers. ObL has determined that he works harder than everyone else at the Starbucks Coffee store; thus, it is not fair that he has to share the tips. To compensate for his hard work, he pockets half of every cash tip he collects during his work shift.

You are an accounting fraud examiner hired by the Starbucks Coffee Company to conduct an undercover investigation. As an operative (undercover investigator) working daily insider the Starbucks Coffee store, you have gathered enough evidence about ObL's theft. It is time to ask the store manager to call the police. But the store manager gnunbles that, "we called the cops many times, but they simp! y won't do anything!" Your next step is to "educate" the store manager on why the police are slow to respond and to advise him how to adjust his approach accordingly so as to get a better response from the police.

Required

Search the Internet for the article, "Helping the Good Guys Win: Dealing With Police When Your Company Is a Victim of Theft" By Kent Perkins at http://www.diversifiedriskmanagement.com/anicles/dealing-with-police.html. After reading this article, draft a memo to "educate" and advise the manager at Starbucks Coffee store as follows:

I. Explain why the local police officers and the district attorneys are not necessarily happy partners, and how the store manager can adjust his approach accordingly to get a better response.

2. Explain why the local police officers receive praise and promotions for lowering crime statistics- "no report, no crime"- and how the store manager can adjust his approach accordingly to get a better response.

3. Explain why the local police officers seem neither to have much time nor interest in employee theft and how the store manager can adjust his approach accordingly to get a better response.

4. Explain why the local police officers are not interested in financial disputes (i.e., non-criminal case), and how the store manager can adjust his approach accordingly to get a better response.