National Business Crime Solution (NBCS), a not for profit initiative for sharing data between law enforcement and businesses to reduce crime, has hailed its first Members’ Day, at the Trent Vineyard Conferencing suite on Tuesday, January 9. With the theme of Creating a Safer Connected Workspace, over 150 delegates – retailers, security providers, technology providers, police business crime leads and police and crime commissioners – gathered to hear about the latest trends and technology in business crime reduction.
Presentations were given by NBCS, CapIndex, Mitie, Athelney Group, Hikvision, CSL DualCom Group, and cybersecurity man Simon Lacey, and the local police and crime commissioner for Nottinghamshire, Paddy Tipping.
The event also featured an update on NBCS and what’s happening within the organisation including its new operating system, its work to prevent child sexual exploitation and its violence reduction strategy. There were also regular breaks during the day that enabled individuals to network.
Jason Towse, Managing Director of contractor Mitie‘s Security Management business gave a presentation on Safer and Better Together: Rethinking Security; delivering a message to the audience on the need for the private security industry to work with the police in supporting businesses with the challenges bought about by the changing threat landscape, particularly in the retail sector. After the event he said: ‘This was an excellent event and our partnership with NBCS provides a great opportunity to offer our clients greater security. We look forward to working together through this innovative new partnership model and helping to reduce crime and risk for UK businesses.’
These sentiments were echoed by John Goy, sales director at CSL DualCom Group, who added: ‘It was great to be able to talk to delegates about how we can help overcome network connectivity challenges in the retail sector. This was a highly worthwhile event for all concerned and we are looking forward to working together with NBCS as part of our shared ethos to design out and reduce crime.’
The day was the idea of NBCS managing director, Daniel Hardy, to bring the NBCS member base closer together. Having recently joined NBCS, Phil Wring, senior business development manager at Hikvision UK & Ireland, welcomed the opportunity to speak about the changing face of electronic security. He said: ‘We are pleased to have partnered with NBCS and be able to demonstrate the latest industry leading technology, which helps both of our organisations deliver on our mutual aim of cutting business crime through collaboration.’
The Athelney Group managing director, Bernie Gravett, said: ‘Intelligence sharing is vital and however, this will lead to the detention of the most prolific offenders. An area where there is business risk opportunity is safe and secure detention rooms. Most suspects are taken to offices and security colleagues will guard them until the police arrive. This can be hours. Conflict and injury risks occur at this time, and staff are taken away from their prevention and reassurance roles. This can be prevented by using the Athelney Group’s ‘Safer Detention Unit’ or SDU – a low cost secure holding solution that isolates the suspect and protects staff. The SDU can be installed in an hour and comes complete with CCTV, audio recording and is ligature free. Safety in the work place is paramount, the SDU will reduce violence and aggression in the work place, lowering absence through sickness and could reduce business costs.”
Daniel Hardy said plans are already under way for the next event. He said: ‘NBCS members comprise some of the UK’s largest companies and, as everyone’s time is precious these days, facilitating associate member suppliers and member end user conversations based on current business risks allows NBCS to offer real value, promoting thought leadership, whilst supporting preventative change opportunities. The feedback we have received so far has surpassed all of our expectations and we are honoured that Mitie, CSL Group, Hikvision and Athelney Group have partnered with us – we look forward to working with them regarding a member based approach to business crime management.’
