Sources of Information
Where possible, the audit or assessment of the local situation should contain information
on each of the areas listed in the checklist attached.
Police recorded crime statistics
Police recorded crime statistics offer an important on-going source of information
on business crime. Police data will, indeed, be vital in developing effective strategies
to reduce repeat victimization.
While the national data collection arrangements do not require this, some police
forces have developed local recording systems that allow for crimes involving business
to be distinguished. Where this is not the case, partnerships may well want to work
towards this.
In assessing recorded crime data, partnerships should be alert to likely variations
in reporting levels depending on the type of crime and the type and size of businesses
involved.
In the Commercial Victimisation Survey:
- retail outlets with 10 or fewer employees were less likely than larger outlets
to report thefts by customers or employees but more likely to report burglaries,
robberies, vandalism and theft from vehicles
- manufacturing operations, particularly small operations, were less likely to report
all types of incident than retailers.
Mirlees-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.
Findings from the British Crime Survey suggest that reporting rates for violence
at work are higher than for violence elsewhere. Even so, the Scottish Business Crime
Survey found significant under-reporting by businesses of incidents involving violence.
The main reasons given for not reporting were that the incidents were not serious,
or that the police would have been unable to assist.
Other information sources
Other useful information sources include:
Surveys of local business
Town centre partnerships
Town centre/business park/shopping centre managers
Chambers of Commerce / Business Support services
Community intelligence
Youth Offending Teams
Drug Action Teams
Trading Standards and a range of other local authority departments
Schools / LEAs
Race Equality Councils / multi-agency panels for reporting and recording racist
incidents
British Retail Consortium National Retail Crime Database
Fire service (incidents of arson)
Business Watch groups
In some situations, action may be needed to set up and support new channels of
communication, as in the example below:
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Newcastle West End Asian Traders’ Association (WATA)-Northumbria Police
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The Newcastle West End police district’s Racial Incidents Investigation Unit analysed
local incidents of racial abuse and racially motivated crime and found that a third
of victims during the previous 10 months were Asian traders. However, the traders
had no formal bodies that could identify and address common problems, and no effective
means of collective communication with the police and other agencies. Thus, the local
police district decided to set up a traders’ association in the area, with the aim
of it becoming a self-running group with strong links to the police and local authority.
Community beat officers visited all Asian traders in the district and invited them
to a series of meetings held at a local school. Following initial meetings, almost
60 traders agreed to join WATA. Six traders volunteered to act as a steering committee
for the association. The city council agreed to support the initiative and provided
funding for an administrative worker to support the association. The implementation
team applied for funding from New Deal for Communities on behalf of WATA, to purchase
security cameras and shutters for traders in the area.
Eventually, 70% of Asian traders in the area joined WATA. The aim is for WATA
to be a broad organisation representing the collective views of traders in the area,
but that it should have specific functions regarding consultation with the police.
For example, it will:
- approach the police to seek action on specific problems;
- hold the local police accountable on behalf of its members;
- act in partnership with the police to solve problems;
- provide opportunity for third party reporting of racial incidents and other crimes.
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Link to: Jones, T and Newburn, T, (2001) Widening Access: Improving police relations
with hard to reach groups, Police Research Series Paper 138, London, Home Office.
More about surveys
It may be possible to keep survey costs down by ‘piggybacking’ on existing or planned
consultations and/or by targeting neighbourhoods where crime is generally high.
Benchmarking Groups
It can be difficult to compare the results of a local survey with other areas as
the approach taken is unlikely to be consistent. A good way of overcoming this would
be to join with partnerships from other areas to form a benchmarking group. A common
method and questionnaire format could be agreed, so that results would be comparable.
Such a joint approach will also save resources.
Click here for the data collection
proformas contained in The Retail Contribution - Additional Reference
Material
Identifying Problems: A checklist
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ISSUE
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QUESTIONS
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What types of crime against businesses are occurring?
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What are the number of crimes involving businesses?:
criminal damage
commercial burglary
robbery
shop theft
violence against staff
fraud and forgery
racially aggravated offences
How does this relate to the number of businesses?
What are the number and rates of incidents involving businesses?
juvenile nuisance
vandalism/graffiti
verbal abuse
harassment / intimidation
racially motivated incident
disorder on licensed premises
How does this relate to the number of businesses?
How do crime and incident rates compare with other areas?
What patterns and trends can be detected?
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2. Where is crime occurring?
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Are there particular hotspots (neighbourhoods, shopping centres or industrial estates)?
Are there particular types of location? (Eg outdoor shopping parade; industrial
estates near housing?)
Do locations share common physical features? E.g. ease of access/egress
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3. When?
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Do crimes and incidents cluster at particular times of the day, week, month or
year?
Can links be detected with shift or other working patterns?
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Who or what is the target?
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What types of business (sector, size, situation) are most vulnerable?
Is there evidence of racial motivation?
What security features did the business possess?
What was stolen / what damage was caused?
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Are repeats occurring?
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If so, within what period?
Is there evidence of crime ‘migrating’ to similar properties nearby?
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What is the impact?
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What concerns businesses the most?
What is the value of items stolen, damage caused or business lost?
Is crime / fear of crime affecting business confidence/decisions?
Are customers deterred from coming to the location?
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What is known about offenders?
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What is known about offenders?
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Where they live
- Persistent offending behaviour
- Motivation
- Risk factors associated with offending e.g. drug misuse
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8. How are they doing it?
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What is known about offenders’ mode of operation? (This may give clues about the
sophistication of offenders involved and inform the responses put in place.)
How are goods disposed of?
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Contextual Information and information on risk factors
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Social, environmental and economic factors associated with business and retail
crime.
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