The Supervisor and the Propped Dock Door
At a 400,000 sq ft distribution center, shrink has risen from 0.4% to 1.9% of revenue over five months - roughly $410,000. An anonymous tip-line report names a night-shift supervisor with 11 years of service and a clean record, saying he 'lets pallets walk out the dock door.' Video shows the dock door propped open three times at 2:14 a.m., but the angle captures neither the trailer nor a license plate. The supervisor's badge shows no anomalies. The general manager wants him interviewed and terminated this week; HR wants legal review first; the loss-prevention director wants police involved immediately. You are the contract investigator brought in. No written interview policy exists, and the state is a one-party consent recording state.
1. Lay out the investigation plan before anyone speaks to the supervisor.
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The first principle: do not interview on the strength of a tip. An early conversation tips the subject, lets him align accounts with the drivers, and gives him time to destroy or explain records.
Evidence sequence: preserve the video and access-control logs now, with hash values and a documented chain of custody, before the 30-day retention window closes. Reconcile bills of lading, scale tickets, seal numbers and receiver signatures against inventory counts to establish what actually left and when - the propped door is a symptom; the discrepancies are the case. Pull who else badged or tailgated at that door in the same window; a supervisor facilitating theft generally needs a driver, a dispatcher or a receiver, and the tip may name only one node.
Assess the tip's credibility and motive separately from its content. Then consider a controlled test: a marked or bait load moved under documented observation, with a chain of custody that survives scrutiny. Suspicion becomes evidence only when it is documented.
2. How do you conduct the interview, given no policy exists and the state is one-party consent?
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Non-custodial, voluntary, private, and documented. Two company representatives present, one a witness; no physical blocking of the exit; if he asks to leave, he leaves. No threats of termination or prosecution, no promises of leniency, no claims that you already have evidence you do not have - each of those converts an admission into a liability.
The law permits recording on one-party consent, but permissibility is not the test. Disclose that the conversation is being recorded for accuracy, and get his acknowledgment on the record; a concealed recording may be lawful and still be destroyed as credible evidence in front of a jury or an arbitrator.
Method: non-confrontational and fact-based. Let him give a free narrative of dock procedures first, then introduce the specific reconciliations and ask him to explain the gaps. Present the strongest documentary evidence late, after his account is fixed. Document start and end times, breaks, water offered, and exact questions.
If he admits involvement, get a voluntary written statement in his own words covering method and amount, signed and dated, with the voluntariness noted. Do not condition continued employment on a polygraph without counsel's review.
3. The evidence is strong and shows an outside driver involved. What do you recommend on police referral, disposition, and recovery?
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Referral is a business and legal decision, not the investigator's alone - and it is not either/or with recovery.
The factors: organized collusion with an outside party, $410,000 in losses and a documented method make a criminal referral defensible and deterrence is real. But coordinate the timing with counsel so the referral does not preempt the civil recovery or prejudice the insurance claim, and so you are not seen to have promised the employee leniency in exchange for a statement and then referred him.
Disposition: suspend with pay pending completion, then let HR and legal make the termination decision on the completed file, not on the tip. Timing should follow the evidence and the referral coordination, not the GM's frustration.
Recovery: restitution agreement where he has assets, civil demand against the accomplice's employer, fidelity bond or crime policy claim, and a documented loss figure that the insurer will accept.
Then fix the controls the case exposed: dock door alarm response, seal verification, trailer release authorization, camera coverage of the trailer and plate, and a tip-line follow-up procedure that does not let a report sit for weeks.