Fast Track Program

One of the more particularly aggravating problems to a security officer, an audit officer, and to administration is the lack of prosecution of internal crime and bank fraud.

If you have a 'Fast Track' program in your area, you may want to start taking advantage of it. If you don't have one, you may want to start putting pressure on your U.S. Attorney's office or your local or state prosecuting agencies to get one!

"Fast track" programs are special prosecution programs designed to address the dramatic increase in the number of fraud and embezzlement investigations. The prosecuting agencies recognized several years ago that many cases are not prosecuted because of the tremendous demand that the increased number of cases has placed upon law enforcement agencies' resources.

To promote the prosecution of "small dollar loss" cases, the prosecuting agencies established a program dubbed 'Fast Track' to process multiple cases through the court system as a group, at specific time intervals.

The general criteria for participating in this special prosecution effort, which may vary from region to region, are:
The crime must have been committed by an employee, regardless of the amount of the loss; or
The crime must have been committed by a non-employee and the monetary loss meets a specific "threshold" ($5,000-$1,000,000) established in advance by the prosecuting agency in that area;
The offender must be positively identified;
The offender has either admitted to being responsible or the existing evidence against the offender is overwhelming (e.g., fingerprint match, photographic identification or eyewitness testimony); or
The offender is known by the prosecuting agency to have committed multiple prosecutable offenses within this jurisdiction.

Participating in a fast track program is relatively simple. When you have finished your investigation but before you file a report with a law enforcement agency - call the appropriate prosecutors and ask if your case qualifies for fast track treatment.

If it does, when you file, tell the law enforcement agent who receives your report to forward a copy of his/her final report to the prosecutor to whom you spoke.

Once action has been taken, and conviction and sentencing have taken place, be sure to disseminate the results of 'Fast Track' prosecutions in-house. You may find it can make a difference to morale-and may reduce the number of incidents that occur in your shop.

Copyright © 1996 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 6, No. 11, 9/96