The Region : $6,000 Sheriff’s Theft Still a Mystery

The Malibu Sheriff’s Station has beefed up its in-house security system after the theft of $6,000 from an office safe. A four-month investigation, which included personnel lie detector tests, failed to snare a suspect in the September theft, Capt. Mark Squires said. The new procedures include an accounting of confiscated money three times a day by watch commanders as they go off duty. If the money, which is seized in criminal investigations and is usually used as evidence in court trials, remains in the safe for 10 days, it will be transferred to a county bank account, Squires said.