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Area churches to start taking precautions against thefts

2 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Thousands of churches across the nation are stolen from each year, mainly by employees taking money – and churches are starting to take precautions. In suburban Pittsburgh this month, a former housekeeper at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church was charged with stealing more than $173,000.

Jeff Hanna, a police detective-turned-minister from Ohio, said churches must scrutinize those with access to donations.

“Churches are notorious for not wanting to change,” said Hanna, who has written books and articles on how churches can keep collections safe. “A lot of churches are operating under guidelines 20, 30 or 40 years old, and they have to understand that things have changed.”

Hanna is also the executive director of the church risk-management division of GuideOne, an insurance company based in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides liability insurance for 45,000 churches.

GuideOne handles an average of 1,800 theft claims from churches totaling $2.8 million each year.

More churches, especially those with large congregations, are using electronic transfers as a means of protection, Hanna said.

“Let’s be honest. We’re all broken people, and we all have the capacity to do bad things,” he said.

“So it’s important to screen people and to know what you’ve got.”

Vanco Services of Minnetonka, Minn., provides electronic money transfers to 6,000 churches nationwide, said Len Thiede, the company’s vice president

The Rev. Larry Homitsky, council steward for the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, said the 900 congregations he oversees have security guidelines.

Church money-counters rotate weekly and at least two people stay with collections at all times, Homitsky said. In addition, everyone working with the collections must be legally bonded, he said.

The thefts hurt everybody, and it’s more than the money, he said.

“Because as important as the dollars are, there’s a higher importance – there’s an expectation of trust higher than anywhere else in society,” Homitsky said.

Information from: Tribune-Review, http://www.triblive.com

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