Houston Detective is a full-service private investigations firm in Houston, Texas. We can meet all of your corporate security needs, for a fraction of what you would pay for a full-time security person. We conduct security surveys showing you where your most significant losses are likely to occur, and then tighten security and stop the losses. If needed, we can assist you in implementing an anonymous fraud hotline. We then work with management to investigate fraud and pilferage as it occurs, implementing additional changes as needed. A few of the workplace crimes we investigate are:
Loss Prevention
Internal theft accounts for most of the shrinkage at most manufacturers and retail establishment. The product is typically pilfered throughout the product chain. We can help you drastically reduce shrinkage, at the factory, the warehouse, in the shipping pipeline, and the retail storefront. When losses do occur we immediately make a visible appearance and conduct interviews and investigate the failures. When appropriate we build a criminal case and liaison with law enforcement to get charges filed against the perpetrator. Even when criminal charges are not registered, the mere visibility of the outside investigator reinforces to employees that theft will not go unnoticed and uninvestigated.
Fraud & Embezzlement
The FBI estimates that white-collar crime costs the United States 300 billion dollars a year. We routinely expose investigate conflict of interest, kickbacks, financial irregularities, and accounting abuses. The company subscribes to over a dozen commercial record databases to better serve our corporate client’s investigation needs. Whether implementing a proactive security plan or investigating a loss, we can meet all your organizational security needs.
Sexual Harassment
Employers have a responsibility to protect all employees from sexual harassment in the workplace. It is critical that all companies have mechanisms in place to not only protect workers from harassment but to alert management when potential harassment has occurred. When accusations of sexual harassment are alleged, the company should promptly reduce or eliminate contact between the accused and the accuser. They should then confer with counsel and hire a competent investigator to handle a complete investigation of the allegations. If the investigation is handled through counsel, the results may be privileged and protected from disclosure. A thorough investigation can mitigate damages and facilitate changes to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Workplace Violence
Background checks, including criminal record checks are the single most effective tool for limiting workplace violence. Additional measures must be taken in the workplace to ensure that employees have a safe and secure workplace. When an incident of workplace violence does occur, it is important to initiate an investigation and act swiftly, to take appropriate action. Acting promptly and investigating the incident can mitigate damages and prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Workplace Theft
Employee pilferage cost U.S. corporations billions of dollars per year. Pilfer is defined “to steal stealthily in small amounts and often again and again.” It is the very gradual nature of this loss that often allows it to go unaddressed in many corporations. Most employers accept that employees will steal pens and paper clips, but seldom realize that those same employees are likely stealing expensive product daily. An effective security survey will reveal where the company’s greatest losses are occurring, and then implement measures to stop the losses.
Computer Crimes
Computer Forensics and Investigations: Computer crimes usually involve financial fraud, theft of proprietary information and theft of intellectual property. We have some computer forensic tools and techniques to recover lost, hidden, deleted, encrypted or damaged files.
Anonymous Fraud Hotlines
Managers are sometimes reluctant to address internal losses because they are afraid that an investigation might hurt moral. Nothing could be further from the truth. A work environment fraught with theft and pilferage is, in fact, the worse work environment possible. We can help you set up an anonymous fraud hotline, which allows employees to call and report wrongdoing anonymously. An 800 number is given to all employees, and they are told that they can call and anonymously report anything from sexual harassment, theft, fraud, to drug use. Hotlines greatly enhance the number of tips management receives from employees, allowing the company to cut losses and significantly improve the workplace environment.
Personal Injury Fraud
Since 1987, our in-depth evidence gathering has saved our clients hundreds of millions of dollars. We specialize in high indemnity death and disability investigations. We provide surveillance and general investigative services to employers, adjusters, attorneys, third party administrators, and self-insurers. We can assist your company’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), and interface seamlessly with your staff and outside counsel. We develop the relevant facts you need to minimize losses from work-related injuries. All investigators are licensed and have experience testifying in both federal and state district courts.
Covert Surveillance
We have conducted thousands of surveillances with highly effective results for our clients. We have years of experience conducting personal injury surveillance in Houston and the surrounding area. All evidence is lawfully obtained and can be presented in court. We capture high-quality video and still images of the subject’s daily activities. Surveillance video enables the defense to offer a credible counter to Day-in-the-Life videos. Claimants are frequently videotaped working undeclared jobs, doing yard work, playing sports, and engaging in other strenuous activities. We have been presenting custom digital video presentations for client’s trials and mediations, since 1994. Digital video can be downloaded from our password protected server, or provided on CD-ROM or DVD. When it comes to fighting workplace insurance fraud, we help you to reduce losses dramatically.
Sub Rosa
Sub Rosa is a Latin phrase which means “under the rose.” In the Middle Ages, a rose suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber pledged all present, those under the rose, to secrecy. In English, Sub Rosa is used to connotating secrecy or surveillance, usually in a legal situation. We provide Sub Rosa services to our legal clients. For more information refer to surveillance.
Please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions or need an experienced Houston workplace investigator.