Retailers Against Crime (RAC) has marked ten years of work in Northern Ireland with a conference in Lisburn, supported by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice (DoJ). Awards were presented for ‘outstanding contribution to RAC’. They are pictured front with the event’s opening speaker PSNI Chief Supt Jonathan Roberts:
Dean Armour, Boots Donegal Place;
Darren Owens, Asda Enniskillen;
Brandon Hubbard, Asda Omagh;
Ronnie Archibald, Boots Crescent Link; and
Next Security Team Northern Ireland.
RAC Chairman who was at the time Annesley Wilson said: “I feel very privileged to have played a part in bringing Retailers Against Crime to Northern Ireland. Being the Chairman of Retailers Against Crime at the time, I was able to see first-hand the exceptional service that Retailers Against Crime provided to their members in their fight against organised retail criminals. It was simply a service that was second to none. I was constantly amazed at the speed at which people were often identified. The knowledge that Maxine and her team would be able to provide about retail criminals, their methods, means of transport and much more was so valuable.
“My fellow retailers at the time may have been rivals to me as I was to them at “the tills”, but when it came to information sharing, we all did so to the benefit of us all. Expanding this very successful retailer driven and owned organisation over to Northern Ireland made perfect sense and I am delighted it has become the success that it is today. Making it harder for travelling organised retail criminals to operate and greatly increase their chances of detection and prosecution is the core function of Retailers Against Crime and it is a credit to Maxine and her team that it is the successful organisation that it is today.”
Also speaking on the morning was Maxine Fraser, Managing Director of Stirling-based RAC. The conference heard talks on counter-terrorism; counter-fraud; and cyber crime. A case study of RAC member Scotmid and Semichem, was given by Nick McGuirk, Profit Protection Manager at the retail chain.
For a gallery of photos from the day visit https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/gallery/rac-northern-ireland-10th-anniversary/.
About RAC
Briefly, RAC works in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, collating data from members and seeking to identify shop thieves and organised crime groups who travel around the UK; which can result in members preventing theft before it happens. RAC also provides training in retail crime prevention and reduction. Visit www.retailersagainstcrime.org. Members are shopping centres and retailers such as Asda and Next.
