Talking to the Police

One reality of being a buyer is that it is likely you will purchase stolen items at some point. There is the possibility that law enforcement will interview you about a case, or (much less likely) issue a subpoena for you to appear in court.

Any communication between an employee and law enforcement must be done in the presence of the CEO, CFO or COO.

• In-person interviews must be scheduled in Old Town.
• Phone interviews must be scheduled as a conference call.
• Email or written correspondence needs to be reviewed by the CEO, CFO or COO before being sent.

The CEO, CFO and COO have experience dealing with law enforcement. They can help you to avoid saying something that may cause problems for you or the company down the road. An employee who does not regularly deal with law enforcement may unintentionally say something that is counter to our best interests, which can be used against us in a court case.

Problematic statements are subjective observations beyond the simple, bare facts. Our attorney advises us that the police are not our friends, and we don’t need to appear clever in front of them, or speak as if we knew or suspected that there was something off about the customer or the deal.

For example, in one situation where the pawned items were stolen, during the police interview, one of our employees said to the police, “I thought this was strange…” when the crook wanted to pawn a watch. Another one said, “I had a bad feeling about this,” suggesting that he knew that there was something wrong with the pawn transaction.

The police will use those kinds of statements to cast us in a bad light, that if we were suspicious of the transaction, we should not have done the deal, and that we knew the pieces were stolen but bought them anyway. Just tell the police the facts, don’t speculate, don’t offer opinions, and don’t say that anything about the transaction was suspicious.

We don’t expect our employees to be experts at giving testimony. Following this policy will relieve the pressure to “say the right thing” during a police interview, since you’ll have an experienced guide at your side.