Well, a company that doesn't follow up on reports of outright employee theft - or has the kind of culture where this thing is tolerated by other, non-stealing employees one bit - has serious problems.
Seems like it might actually be better to let employees run free, and just keep a mild watch out. That way, any employees with unethical/stupid tendencies to do things like steal office equipment and resell it will make themselves known rapidly, rather than potentially festering and worming their way into a position of trust before betraying it on a much larger scale.
I'm not saying you make it easy so you can catch thieves and avoid having your stuff stolen. I'm saying you make it easy because, I figure, less ethical people are more likely to steal, so it lets you weed out bad people in general.
