So I told you earlier how you might want to avoid going to the bank on Friday, now I’ve got some information for you on the increase in office thefts.
These days thieves are really reaching. As traditional targets for theft have beefed up their security and the recession has driven people to desperate measures, robbers are infiltrating corporate offices. Many of the incidences involve small companies with ground-level offices that offer easy access. And sometimes the perpetrators are armed, heightening fear among office workers who thought their sleepy cubicle farms were safe.
While the total number of robberies in general decreased slightly in 2008 from 2007, according to estimates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there was an estimated 10.1% increase from 2004. In 2008, there were an estimated 2.2 million burglaries—an increase of 3.6% when compared with 2004 data.
During the third quarter of this year, Crisis Care Network Inc. provided crisis counselors to employees at 206 workplaces—including offices and retail stores—following incidents of armed robbery, up from 185 during the same period in 2008.In the past year, ComPsych Corp. , a provider of employee-assistance programs, has seen a 21% increase in the number of requests for crisis counseling at offices that were robbed while employees were present; requests from banks rose 16%.
But the crimes may be more widespread than that since counselors typically are called in only following incidents in which employees’ lives were actually threatened, says Richard Chaifetz, chairman and chief executive officer of the Chicago firm, which services more than 11,000 organizations and 29 million workers world-wide.
And of course, the little Hollywood ring was recently busted. Paris Hilton can leave her stuff strewn about her place once again.
Born Curious 
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