Crime solutions
Partnering with business to address public safety problems
This guide addresses crime prevention partnerships and related issues. It begins by discussing the impact of crime against business and the roles businesses play in contributing to crime. The guide analyses different types of partnerships and strategies for forming them. It lists the characteristics of good and bad partnerships, along with ideas for overcoming barriers that may prevent businesses from participating in crime prevention partnerships. The guide concludes with examples of business-police partnerships and programs, some that are known to be effective and others that are still largely untested.
Title: Partnering with business to address public safety problems
Author: Sharon Chamard
Series: US COPS Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Solving Tools Series No. 5
Number of pages: 70
Date published: April 2006
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How Do Businesses Contribute to Crime?
Like most other types of crime, business victimisation is not spread randomly across all potential targets. Rather, it is concentrated in certain sectors of the economy; even within certain classes of business there are wide variations in victimisation rates. For example, a study of budget motels in one city in California found that the annual rate of police call-outs per room ranged from a low of 0.25 to a high of over 11.14. Similarly, a study of victimization in Britain found that 2% of retail premises suffered 25% of all retail burglaries, meaning that certain locations were victimized considerably more frequently than others.
Commercial areas are full of criminal targets: goods to be shoplifted, cars to be broken into, purses and wallets to be grabbed, and employees to be robbed. Still, many businesses do not seem particularly concerned that their methods of operation can actually cause crime—not only inside their establishments, but in neighbouring areas as well. Businesses do not operate in a vacuum; they are parts of their communities. There is much they can do to reduce the situational conditions that create opportunities for crime. For example:
Merchandise Display
Consumers like to be able to touch items, to pick them up, to imagine using them. Accordingly, retailers frequently arrange their stores to allow customers easy access to merchandise; this can encourage shoplifting.Staffing Practices
Businesses that keep their staffing levels low can be vulnerable to crime in two ways. Fewer staff means less supervision of customers and higher levels of shoplifting, and fewer staff typically means more autonomy for employees, which can result in higher levels of employee theft.Premises Security
Commercial areas are often bustling with people shopping, waiting for buses, or chatting with neighbors. Such activities can provide good cover for those engaged in illegal activities.Product Design
Businesses also contribute to crime because of the products they manufacture and sell. Often, the victims of these crimes are not the businesses themselves, but customers who are hapless enough to buy goods that are both attractive to thieves and designed so that they are easy to steal.
Steps for Starting a Partnership
The guide makes the point that partnerships should not be formed just for the sake of having a partnership. This doesn't mean that the police shouldn't communicate with businesses, as there are many legitimate reasons to do so. These relationships and communications, although not formally structured, can be an important part of an overall community policing strategy. However, if problem-oriented policing is the underlying reason for the partnership, then there should be a specific issue for the partnership to address.
The guide sets out the steps that can create the environment in which a partnership with business can flourish. Full details of each step is given in the full report.
Identify key agencies or businesses that should be in the partnership.
Make contact with the potential partners.
Agree on a purpose for the partnership.
Structure the partnership.
Train the partners.
Decide on a plan of action.
Assess the effectiveness of your plan of action.
Discuss the future of the partnership.
The guide also sets out the key elements for a successful new partnership
Leadership
Facilitator
Structure
Resources
Mission and Goals
Tangible Results
Goodwill
Early Successes
Details on the above, together with ideas (both proven and untested) for engaging with the business community are given in the full report.
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Partnering with business to address public safety problems
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Last update: 20 April 2006