SEC430 New Security Employee Guide

New Security

New Security Employee Guide

Name

Class

Date

Professor

New Security Employee Guide

Evidence Acquisition and Management

Security personnel are not under the same restrictions as law enforcement when acquiring evidence but in order to ensure the rights of the citizens are not violated when obtaining evidence, in order to avoid criminal or civil responsibility, security personnel will be expected to follow company guidelines and procedures. The first policy for the security employee is to collect evidence in a fashion which does not compromise the nature of the evidence and use the proper protective measures to ensure the evidence does not become damaged, lost or destroyed. The chain of evidence must be clearly documented to ensure in criminal cases the evidence can be used in a court of law.

In any form of security evidence management is the process for the proper collection, processing, maintenance, and protection of evidence that is required in order to maintain the integrity and credibility of the evidence (Beaty, 2011). Once evidence is located it needs to be properly preserved by securing the area where the evidence was located and then reported to the police. Evidence that is not properly collected can be damaged or destroyed making it impossible to use in court and if not properly collected could be excluded by the court process. In order to ensure that any evidence that is located can be protected in order to be used against criminal suspect’s security personnel must document the location of evidence as well as time or date. Evidence should be photographed and then secured for collection by law enforcement.

Evidence that is collected for the use of security investigations, not involving law enforcement, will require security personnel to collect the evidence before warehousing it with a secure custodian. The secure custodian will protect the chain of evidence. Evidence that is acquired will be secured for collection and disposed off if no longer needed or case is successfully resolved. Any evidence gathered involving criminal cases will be kept until collected by police or criminal case is resolved. Evidence will be collected following the formal standards of the organization and properly managed until the time it is returned to owner or destroyed.

Administrative and Personnel Investigations

The security employee guide concerning administrative and personnel investigations includes teaching employees about the rights of criminal suspects and their legal responsibilities as well as how to conduct an interview and the difference in the interrogation. The administrative investigation is different from the criminal investigation in that the administrative investigation involves average workday situations that do not involve criminal behavior. An investigation consists of any deliberate effort to obtain or develop information in order to identify facts or to determine an appropriate course of action within the requirements established by law, regulations and labor agreements (NPS, 2006). The purpose is to gather enough evidence to make a informed decision on a course of action.

The investigator will gather facts, similar to a criminal investigation, by interviewing other employees or stakeholders that may have information concerning the work situation. The goal is not to falsely accuse or develop an opinion but instead to use facts to make a decision about the situation will be handled. In these types of investigation the employee has engaged in some type of wrongdoing or misconduct. For example the employee may have failed to complete a task that resulted in the loss of a client or has displayed a pattern of tardiness. A criminal investigation would involve theft or other crimes such as bribery. Because there is no crime the course of action will involve punishment.

The administrative or personnel investigation is usually the result of a complaint or an action that caused harm for the organization. The investigator will question witnesses and keep any responses private and confidential. The investigator should focus only on the facts and ignore any rumor or speculation. All information that is collected should be carefully documented and the investigation should comply with the law and never violate rights of the employee being investigated. Once credible and factual data has been gathered a report should be written that determines what, when, why, and where the alleged incident happened s well as who was responsible. The report should also include recommendations for punishment.

References

Beaty, A. (2011). Evidence Management. Retrieved November 25, 2012 from

http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/Police/Articles/EvidenceManagement

National Park Service. (2006). Conducting an Administrative Investigation. Retrieved November

25, 2012 from http://www.nps.gov/training/tel/Guides/Conducting_Admin_Investigations