National week of action to target and reduce business crime

We’re supporting Safer Business Action Week, a national week of action to help reduce retail crime and support a safer business community.

The week (14-20 October) involves police and partners working together across the county, holding targeted enforcement against known offenders, and promoting crime reduction methods.

Crime against a business can take many forms: from shoplifting and people not paying in restaurants, to staff theft and burglary. It also includes aggressive, abusive, or violent behaviour against retail workers.

It affects not only large organisations, but also smaller independent businesses, and can have a significant impact on victims and communities. We know many incidents go unreported and we want to encourage retailers to report to us where they can.

This morning (15 October), several of our officers and staff were at the QUAD in Derby, raising awareness of the importance of reporting crime and discussing crime prevention best practice with partners and local businesses.

It was an event organised by the Derbyshire Business Crime Reduction Partnership, bringing together local councils, national retailers, local businesses, and the police.

There were several speakers, including Police and Crime Commissioner Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts. Sergeant Mark Sharma spoke about the proactive work of Derby City SNT in providing two-way communication between businesses and the police, and about the importance of reporting crime to help build the wider intelligence picture.

Also on hand to answer questions were Sergeant Sarah Witham and Constable Gary Miller from the force’s Retail Crime Team. The team was set up in March to review all reports of shop theft – which in Derbyshire equates to 30-40 reports a day. They use a database of known and unknown suspects which they can crossmatch against.

If you’re a business owner and want to read more about safeguarding your staff and your business, visit the Business Crime Prevention page on our website. There’s advice on shop security, tips on protecting your business from shoplifters and ways to prevent theft from staff.

Visit Business crime prevention | Derbyshire Constabulary to read more.

You can also sign up to Derbyshire Alert, a free two-way community messaging system which provides information on crimes and incidents in your area.

To register your business on the system, simply go to www.derbyshirealert.co.uk  Sign up and add your business profile to the ‘Business Watch’ group and the ‘type of business’ group, which will give you control over the messages that you receive.