Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Crimes against businesses are not usually planned – they usually happen when someone spots an opportunity.

• Your first step is to carry out a thorough risk assessment. This means taking a hard look at your business and checking where there is the opportunity for crime. Opportunities include anything from insecure cash tills to anti-social behaviour outside your building.

• Draw up a checklist of potential risks and work through it. For example:

  • Do you follow agreed opening and closing procedures for the business?

  • Do you monitor visitors arriving at and leaving your premises?

  • Are tools and ladders securely locked away?

  • Do you keep cash on the premises?

  • Do you follow a procedure for closing and locking doors, windows and skylights?

• Your answers to the questions above will help you decide which security measures your business needs.

• Knowing the particular risks your business faces means any action you take will be more effective.

As an employer, you have a duty to keep the workplace as safe as possible. You also need to know that your staff and customers are honest and safe.

Preventing theft

• Always check references for new staff.

• Introduce and follow clear policies about employee theft.

• Train staff to spot thieves, and to watch out for suspicious behaviour.

• Greet every person who enters the business in a friendly way. This could help to put someone off committing a crime against you or your business.

• You can arrest a thief but remember, your safety is always more important than your property.

Keeping staff safe

• Make sure all staff understand safety procedures and routinely follow them.

• Train your staff so they can spot the early signs of aggression and know how to deal with it.

• Consider whether you need alarms, coded locks or video surveillance, or could you use alternatives to cash?

For information on protecting staff from violence, visit the following websites.

• Health & Safety Executive website

• Lone worker safety case studies

• Violence at work

• Put yourself in the shoes of a criminal and think how they would break into your premises. What are the weak spots in your security?

• Get advice from the local police.

• Securely lock all entrances and exits when nobody is on the premises. Do not leave keys lying around.

• Lock valuables in a secure safe.

• Think about strengthening doors and windows. The more barriers you create, the more you can delay and put off burglars.

• Install a burglar alarm and learn how to use it properly.

• Consider having CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) installed to prevent or spot crime.

• Think about having grilles or shutters on doors and windows, but talk to your local authority's planning department and your landlord.

• Keep windows free from displays and posters so staff can see anyone hanging about and who's entering the premises.

• Keep valuables away from windows to prevent 'smash and grab' attacks.

• Protect your business by installing and using good lighting and locking gates. Also consider places around your business where someone might hide, such as in trees, shrubbery, stairwells and alleyways.

• Quickly repair any damage to your premises – replace signs, repair equipment, paint over graffiti. Consider using landscaping designs (such as prickly shrubs or closely planted hedges, lighting or fences) to put off criminals.

• 'Design out crime'. For example, if you have a shop, keep shelves low so staff can see shoppers clearly; think about the position of your tills; keep high-value goods away from doors or out of sight to prevent attracting thieves' attention and install wide counters to help protect your staff.

• Keep attractive items such as televisions, stereos, computers and videos in secure storerooms or containers.

• Mark equipment and display signs explaining this to put off thieves.

• Have regular stocktakes.

• Keep as little cash as possible on the premises.

• Remove money from the premises overnight, and leave the till open and empty.

• Display prominent signs saying: 'Time delays are in operation' or 'No money left on premises'. Criminals will only attack places if they can get away quickly with plenty of cash.

• Bank safely. Count and prepare cash out of sight in a locked room and use professional cash collection services if you can.

• If you do visit the bank to collect or pay in money, vary your route and time. Never try to fight off or follow attackers. No heroes!

• Work out your emergency response to a major incident such as an armed robbery, and make sure your staff know what to do.

• Control who has access to equipment, documents and computers to prevent any unauthorised use.

• Train your staff in your security systems and your disciplinary policies and procedures.

• Where possible, divide duties between staff so any irregularities will be spotted and introduce appropriate supervisory and monitoring controls. Random spot checks are effective at preventing fraud.

• Take steps to tackle credit card fraud. Routinely check the dates credit and debit cards are valid from and to, phone for authorisation where appropriate, check the card and its signature strip for signs of alteration, check the signature you're given against the one on the card, and check the number on the card matches the number on the till printout.

• If you accept credit card payments without seeing the actual card, ask your bank about ways to help reduce the risks of fraud.

• Beware of suppliers and customers offering unrealistically low prices or high payments. Remember, if a deal looks too good to be true it probably is.

You are not alone! You will be much more effective if you team up with others who are working to tackle crime in your area.

• Did you know that every local authority has a team dedicated to tackling crime and disorder? By getting involved with your local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership you will be helping to provide solutions to your own and other people's, crime problems.

• Link up with other businesses in your area to share the latest local information on crime prevention and risks.

• Keep an eye on neighbouring businesses, and ask them to do the same for you.

• Join or form a local Business Watch scheme.

• Get in touch with the Action Against Business Crime Group, which is developing new business crime partnerships in town and city centres.

• Use 'exclusion orders' to keep undesirable people away, and ask local police or your local authority to take action against those acting anti-socially.

• Get in touch with neighbourhood, street or community wardens.

• Think about setting up a Business Improvement District (BID) to improve security in ways such as CCTV, replacing street lamps or acting quickly to get rid of graffiti.

For advice on the fear of crime, visit www.crimereduction.gov.uk/toolkits/fc00.htm

To find your local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, visit www.crimereduction.gov.uk/partnerships

For good-practice examples and advice on e-tailing (making and receiving payments electronically), visit www.crimereduction.gov.uk/etailing00.htm

For advice on crime prevention, visit www.crimereduction.gov.uk

For information on the regional Business Crime Reduction Advisers, visit www.crimereduction.gov.uk/business33.htm

For information on the Action Against Business Crime Group, visit www.businesscrime.org.uk

For information on BIDs, visit www.ukbids.org

For a Cardwatch training pack, visit www.cardwatch.org.uk  Phone: 08705 500005

To contact Crimestoppers with information about a crime, visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org  Phone: 0800 555 111 (You do not have to give your name.)

To contact Victim Support, if you need support after a crime, visit www.victimsupport.org  Phone: 020 7735 9166

To contact your business association or British Chambers of Commerce, visit www.chamberonline.co.uk/  Phone: 020 7654 5800

For advice on preventing crime and security standards, visit www.securedbydesign.com

For practical advice on business issues, visit www.business.gov.uk