Data Sources

Data on business and retail crime can be difficult to obtain. Police recorded crime statistics distinguish shop thefts [and fraud and forgery]. However, these statistics exclude:

• Crimes not reported to the police. This may be because the incident is seen as too trivial to merit police attention, because victims doubt that effective action can be taken, or (with retailers in particular) because the business does not know that a crime has taken place.

• Crimes reported to, but not recorded by, the police, for example because the police conclude that there is insufficient evidence to justify proceeding.

• Other types of crime involving business (e.g. commercial burglary, criminal damage, robbery, violence and harassment) that are recorded by the police but are not distinguished in the recorded crime statistics as crimes affecting business.

Three main national surveys give some picture of business crime. Of these, the retail crime survey - conducted for the British Retail Consortium - is repeated annually, giving insights into trends. The three main surveys are:

Commercial Victimisation Survey (1994)

The first national victimisation survey of retail and manufacturing premises, this targeted individual business premises, asking some 3,000 retailers and manufacturers about their experiences of crime.

Mirrlees-Black, C and Ross, A (1995) Crime against Retail and Manufacturing Premises: Findings from the 1994 Commercial Victimisation Survey, Home Office Research Study No. 146, London, Home Office.

Scottish Business Crime Survey (1998)

This survey interviewed some 1600 businesses in Scotland, surveyed 148 large businesses and used site visits to explore businesses’ experiences of crime, its costs and their investment in prevention. The survey covered five sectors:

-   manufacturing,

-   construction,

-   wholesale and retail,

-   hotels and restaurants;

-   transport and telecommunications.

Summary at www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/crf35-00.htm

Retail Crime Survey (conducted annually since 1993)

The most recent survey (for the financial year 1998/99) involved a postal survey of head offices of all major multiples, coupled with a shorter questionnaire to a random selection of members of specialist retail trade associations. Excluding post offices, responses were received from over 19,000 UK retail outlets, representing 6% of all UK outlets, but 42% of UK turnover.

Local surveys of business crime, such as that conducted for the Leicester-based Small Business and Crime Initiative (SCBI), supplement this information.

[Wood, J et al, Crime against small business: Facing the challenge, Crime Concern 1997].

In addition, successive sweeps of the British Crime Survey give information on the extent, distribution and impact of violence at work.

Most recently, estimates developed by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate as a basis for assessing the costs of crime offer some conclusions on overall levels of commercial and public sector victimization.

S Brand & R Price, (2000) The economic and social costs of crime, Home Office Research Series Paper 217, London, Home Office. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors217.pdf