Facewatch is now being offered free to all UK businesses, with a focus on retailers and the licensed trade, through Facewatch & Partners, a newly set up Not for Profit Company chaired by Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas. Facewatch provides online crime reporting and CCTV image sharing to the police and has been awarded “Secured by Design” status by ACPO (The Association of Chief Police Officers).
Facewatch was piloted in London during 2011, starting in the Victoria Business Improvement District and Westminster, which resulted in a reported 73pc increase in detection rates of low level crime as well as measurable savings in police time and costs.
Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas said: “I am very pleased to chair this exciting initiative which enables the police and businesses to work closely together to reduce low level crime and help to make our communities safer. The new Not for Profit company, Facewatch & Partners, represents the interests of all our stakeholders including businesses, police, communities and sponsors.”
Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “I am pleased to support Facewatch for its practical use of technology in the fight to combat crime. The system is a catalyst for businesses and Police to join together; a great example of citizens and Communities getting involved alongside the Police.”
Facewatch was created by Simon Gordon who was determined to reduce petty crime in his family’s wine bar – Gordon’s Wine Bar in London – and was frustrated by the practical difficulties of reporting crime in a way that the police could act on quickly and effectively. Simon’s solution was to use the internet to bridge the gap between CCTV and police. The web based system, which provides a complete online evidential pack including images, moving CCTV footage and witness statements, was launched in 2011 to help victims of crime by providing an instant crime reference and free cancellation of their payment cards through Card Protection offered by CPPGroup Plc (CPP).
Facewatch & Partners’ goal is to spread the experience of Victoria BID and Westminster around the UK, firstly focusing on London.
Simon Gordon, sponsor of Facewatch & Partners said: “My aim is to reduce low level crime rather than just fill up our prisons with offenders. To do this I believe we need to create a strong deterrent and the creation of Facewatch as a National low level crime database which enables all businesses with low level crime problems to be part of the solution, but at no cost to themselves, is a step in the right direction. I am proud to be the founding sponsor for Facewatch & Partners and fully support the objective of providing the system free to businesses and the Police. The more people who get involved in tackling low level crime the better. I hope that many businesses will want to join me in sponsoring Facewatch & Partners.”
About Simon Gordon
Simon Gordon founded Facewatch with a group of like-minded individuals in April 2010. He is Executive Chairman of Facewatch and proprietor of Gordon’s Wine Bar, dating back to 1890, which has been in Simon’s family for many years. In December 2010, he opened a new wine bar, Stokes of Stockbridge, in Hampshire. Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981. Former positions include Finance Director of The Skandia UK Group, Finance Director of Royal Trust Fund Management, and other finance roles in the City.
