A ‘confusing minefield’ of support is available for business crime victims in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Work goes on at local, regional, and national levels to respond to crimes against businesses, but processes have historically been complicated and confusing for victims to follow, the county’s police and crime commissioner admits.
Hence a new Business Crime Strategy, with accompanying research by Staffordshire University, at: https://staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk/initiatives/business-crime-matters/. The Deputy Staffordshire Commissioner Sue Arnold, herself a business owner, will coordinate efforts by Staffordshire Police, Chambers of Commerce, the crime reduction partnership Partnerships Against Business Crime in Staffordshire (PABCIS) and the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
The research by Staffordshire University, commissioned by the SCO in September, sought the experiences of small business owners. These often felt unheard, under-recognised and under-supported in discussions about crime, which tended to focus on larger retailers and the night-time economy. They were concerned about the impact anti-social behaviour had on footfall; illegitimate businesses undercutting them and taking their customers; and a perceived lack of neighbourhood policing, especially in rural areas, which left business owners feeling isolated and unsupported.
One retailer commented: ‘I employ people and pay wages. I pay my rates and taxes. Why should it be a confusing minefield to try and report something that costs me time and effort?’
Deputy Staffordshire Commissioner Sue Arnold, herself a business owner, has long championed the needs of the business community as a vital part of the region’s prosperity.
In 2013, Mrs Arnold led on the development of the Business Crime Matters strategy, on behalf of the Commissioner. That led to a Business Crime Support Service delivered by Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, business crime alerts via the Smart Alert system and free Cyber Champions in the Workplace training against online frauds.
Mrs Arnold said: ‘Nationally, the response to victims of business crime is fragmented and disconnected, and we know that businesses often struggle to navigate the system after suffering a business crime. Business owners tell us there are still too many siloes, locally, regionally and nationally, with different levels of response and support available depending on the way crimes are categorised in narrow themes such as cyber, fraud or rural.
‘They feel discussions about business crime are largely framed around the night-time economy or larger retail businesses, and the voices of SMEs are rarely heard. This strategy is underpinned by research which focused on hearing those voices, to give them a say in how we tackle the issues that matter to them.’
Picture: Co-op store at Yoxall, Staffordshire, after 2017 ram-raid.
