Vehicle Crime
Principles to Follow in Naming and Shaming
PRINCIPLES TO FOLLOW IN NAMING AND SHAMING
(amended September 2006)
• Naming and shaming of particular car parks should be based on facts and not be misleading. This means restricting activity to car parks where there are police recorded crime figures. In doing so, care should be taken to avoid implying that the situation in other car parks on which there are no such crime figures is more or less safe.
• The message to the public should be that they are advised to take precautions to help prevent themselves becoming the victim of crime. The precautions could take the form of:
• ensuring they take all their belongings with them if they park in the identified car park;
• fitting an electronic immobiliser;
• parking in a car park which has "Park Mark®" status if one is available locally and where there is evidence in the form of police recorded crime figures that it is safer;
• pressing the car park owner (directly or through their local authority elected representative) to upgrade security to the levels of the ACPO Safer Parking Scheme;
• Care should be taken to avoid statements which might be defamatory or unjustifiable. This means avoiding singling out one car park in such a way as to imply that it is experiencing higher levels of crime than comparable car parks if there are no police recorded crime figures available to prove the point.
• It would also be unreasonable not to take all relevant factors into account in a decision to name and shame. This includes, for example, information that a car park was already responding to crime levels and was about to upgrade security to address the problem.
Last update: Friday, September 22, 2006