Theft occurs when people simply take resources from an organization.

Knowledge

Thieves need to know they can steal. Map the critical details of the knowledge they need.

They need to know what there is to steal. They need to know where it is. They need to know when it is available. They need to know who is guarding it and who is competing for it. They need to know who will take it off their hands.

Value

Items must be sufficiently valuable for thieves to want to steal them and to risk capture.

Map your resources. What items have high value in the specific context? Where is the demand for those items?

Opportunity

Thieves need the time and the space to get to the items they steal and to move them somewhere else.

Map your time and space. When are your resources most vulnerable to theft? Where are they stored? What route do they travel as they are transported? How can people get access to them? When are they unattended or lightly guarded?

Money can be grabbed and moved quickly, but a safe is heavier and harder to move. A car is easy to drive away, but a car with no petrol will not drive.

Impunity

Thieves do not want to get caught. They want to enjoy their booty or the profits from it. Thieves seldom steal recklessly. They want to be sure to get away.

If all a thief needs is a gun and an insouciant, threatening air to intimidate resource holders into thinking they have no options, then thieves will abound. If they can see that they are not feared and that they will be held accountable, the number of potential thieves drops.

What is the nature of law enforcement in any given context? (In conflict areas, it is often quite weak, of course.) Will the community protect the thieves or be furious with them? Is there a border they can cross, or a fortress where they can hide?

These four elements are present in all situations of theft. We can eliminate one or more if we think through the situation and map our critical details.

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Related Topics
Why does Theft happen?
Kidnapping is Theft
Theft
Resource Transfers