Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 78
Require Police and Crime Commissioners to establish Business Crime Reduction Partnerships and retail crime plans.
Recommendation
As local representatives Police and Crime Commissioners are well placed to understand the specific issues facing the retail community in their area and to ensure police forces focus attention on this critical issue. Collaboration between police and retailers to identify repeat offenders is a powerful tool in crime prevention. We welcome early reports regarding the pilot one-touch reporting process introduced by Katy Bourne in Sussex. We encourage all Police and Crime Commissioners to use their unique position to help improve data sharing, build trust and bridge the gap between local businesses and police forces. We call on all Police and Crime Commissioners to work with local retailers to establish or strengthen Business Crime Reduction Partnerships and to develop local retail crime reduction plans, including arrangements for local reporting, identifying patterns of crime and prolific offenders to be targeted, and re-building confidence in the police response to violence and abuse against shopworkers.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of reporting and commits to working with relevant bodies to scope options for online business crime reporting and to consider how to encourage the creation of Business Crime Reduction Partnerships, alongside highlighting existing police funding and the Safer Streets Fund.
Paragraph Reference:
78
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
It is essential incidents of violence are reported to police. We know these crimes are under-reported at present, as highlighted in the responses received to the Call for Evidence on Violence and Abuse Towards Shop Staff, and in the HASC report. This remains a key issue, which will give police forces a more accurate picture of the problem in their area, enabling police forces and businesses to work together to provide an appropriate response. The Home Office is working with the NBCC and the Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme to scope options and timescales for business crime reporting services, including violence towards retail workers, to be hosted online through a single platform. If a viable option is identified, the Home Office will consider providing funding to set up this online reporting service. The Home Office will continue to work with NABCP, NBCC and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners to consider what more we can do to encourage the creation of BCRPs. This year (year two of the programme) we are providing £425m to spend on the recruitment of 6,000 additional officers by 2022. Of this, PCCs will receive £415m for territorial policing and Regional Organised Crime Units. The Safer Streets Fund round two was launched on 26 January 2021, and the deadline for placing bids was 25 March 2021. This second Safer Streets Fund was expanded to allow Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Authorities, across England and Wales, to invest in a wider range of crime hotspot areas, including commercial areas, such as busy high streets, and more disparate rural locations. Successful bids for round two were announced on 3 June 2021 and funding has been allocated to 50 projects. Of these projects, 23 identified that their interventions would tackle crime in a commercial setting. Four projects with funding totalling £1,726,000 have identified they will exclusively focus on commercial settings, just shy of 10% of the total funding of Safer Streets round two allocated.