Definitions

Business and retail crime can be taken to include ‘all crime and disorder committed by or against businesses.’ The definition is extremely broad, covering internal crimes (e.g. employee theft, fraud and false accounting); external crime (e.g. burglary, customer theft and vandalism) and contraventions of legislation, for example on trading standards or health and safety.

This Toolkit focuses on crime and disorder committed against businesses. Even this definition embraces a wide range of:

• offence types

• business sectors

• sizes of business

• types of location

Crime problems, and appropriate responses, can vary enormously depending on the offences being committed, the business sectors involved, their locations and the size of business operations. Partnerships will need to take account of each of these dimensions in identifying problems, developing a strategic approach and targeting interventions.