Business crime partnerships have launched in the market towns of Cheadle, Leek and Biddulph. They will be managed by the staff at the Stoke on Trent Business Crime Reduction Partnership. These Moorlands schemes cover the day and night time economies in Leek and Biddulph, and daytime shops only in Cheadle with the night time economy still to be addressed. So says the 2014 report of PABCIS (Partnerships against business crime in Staffordshire) run by Julie Davies.
She wrote: “During 2014 development of a secure network in which we can circulate images, bulletins and information instantly to business members and other stakeholders and agencies has been developed and is working effectively across the county. What it means is that whilst businesses can report incidents to each local partnership via this system in addition to other reporting processes, the local partnerships and PABCIS are in a position to circulate information in fast time to one, several or many businesses, business groups, types etc. This can be anything from early warnings, to profiles, to bulletins and relates to day and night time economies. Whilst many retailers do not have internet access, many do and so this is of benefit to them at local level.”
The largest percentage of offenders commit offences in the local area, with some crossing over to the next towns but not much further. And the next largest percentage of offenders are county residents, offending within the county. Local offenders cause most problems say 89pc of businesses replying to a PABCIS survey.
December 2014 the number of individual offender profiles held on the PABCIS intelligence system exceeded 22,000. Each month local partnerships report to their local members in relation to some of the action taken against individuals – this may be as simple as a warning letter; or the issue of an exclusion order. PABCIS adds that it is important to police exclusion orders vigorously otherwise they can become ineffective. “Within PABCIS we ensure policing of such orders. Warning letters are treated as a form of early intervention, whilst exclusion orders become the next stage of action. Whilst they are effective in the right circumstances, serving a particular purpose, clearly lifestyle offenders need more stringent action.”
Comments
Martin Gregg, head of LP at Peacocks, said: “Peacocks, like many retailers, is a member of a large number Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRPs). As with any expense, we need to be clear on what our money is buying and what return this spend will deliver to our business? Quantifying the return on investment such as CCTV and security tagging are relatively simple and make justifying the spend fairly straightforward. Not so the cost of memberships to BCRPs. This is in part due to the sometimes unclear management structure, varying membership costs, combined with inconsistent service delivery and output from these schemes. One of the key questions for me has always been to understand how our data is used, and how this data will provide a benefit to our stores? PABCIS provides the answers to my questions.”
And Staffordshire Police force lead for business crime, Assistant Chief Constable Jon Drake, said: “Over the last two years, significant progress has been made by PABCIS in developing consistency and high standards across all areas of Staffordshire. Through this work, businesses are better protected be it in the day or night time economy. From the use of banning notices for prolific offenders through to helping tackle organised travelling criminal groups, PABCIS and its members have been key players in the fight against crime.”
Visit the PABCIS website for the report in full – http://www.pabcis.co.uk/PDF/PABCIS-Bi-Annual-Report-2014.pdf
