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Business awards

by msecadm4921

The 2012 Association of Business Crime Partnerships (ABCP) awards showed how partnerships are doing work beyond arrests of shop thieves, for wider community safety. There were three categories of partnership excellence awards: managing the evening economy, innovation, and community safety. Framed certificates were presented by Allyn Thomas, the former ACPO business crime lead now chairman of ABCP.

In the ‘managing the evening economy’ category, highly commended was Brighton, for their data sharing with the Probation Service, whereby breaches of curfew or other bail restrictions imposed by courts might be reported to probation. The winner was G Safe, the Gravesend partnership in Kent, which fitted out a vehicle with tables, chairs, lighting, and first aid kit for use at weekends, by police, street pastors and G Safe staff to attend to the vulnerable, and provide a haven for people out for the night to be picked up by taxis, or parents.

In the community safety category, commended was Dover Partnership Against Crime, which used ‘community action fund’ money on ‘outward bound’ courses; and the Reading partnership for a project to provide safe places for people with learning difficulties in the town centre, and towards reporting of crime against the vulnerable. Highly commended was Dacorum partnership of Hemel Hempstead, which used its ‘action fund’ money to extend the partnership to three neighbourhood shopping centres, offering retail radios. The winner was Exeter, for work on a city evacuation plan, prompted by the attempted terrorist bomb in a restaurant in 2008. The plan takes in the council CCTV control room and can include texts to security officers – giving for example the direction of an evacuation – and a second, secure, radio channel to carry radio traffic in an emergency.

In the innovation category, commended were Somerset West Businesses Against Crime (SWBAC) for work with Littoralis on a safer premises intranet, for farms and other rural businesses; and Brighton, for their work on low-level theft by youths, whereby first-time young offenders are shown the consequences of retail crime. Highly commended was another youth project, in Southampton, to deal with a rising number of young people, including in school uniform, shoplifting. Finding that most of the youths did shop theft out of peer pressure, a video showing the consequences to young people of being caught was put on Youtube. Category winner was Cherwell for their work against the theft of car number plates, then used in forecourt crime – driving off from petrol stations without payment, to get around CCTV number plate recognition. Again with an ‘action fund’ grant, Cherwell ran forecourt watches and offered petrol retailers retail radios, and offered number plate anti-theft screws.

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