Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 95
Provide greater government support for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships, involving shopworkers and employers.
Recommendation
Business Crime Reduction Partnerships have huge potential to improve communication and collaboration between the police, local retailers and local authorities on the issue of retail crime. Tailoring the policing response to areas of particular vulnerability, identifying repeat offenders, and developing joint preventative plans are effective measures for improving the police response. Closer collaboration may also have a positive impact on retailer confidence and reporting of incidents. Smaller retailers in particular, who do not have the security support and expertise that bigger corporations do, are particularly reliant on support through local partnerships. There is considerable potential for these to do far more on every Violence and abuse towards retail workers 65 high street including better investment in CCTV and communication networks, supporting small shop owners who may be working alone. We recommend that the Government provides greater support for the creation of Business Crime Reduction Partnerships including actively encouraging partnerships to cover smaller town centres and areas where there are many independent shops with less capacity to organise local security and crime prevention. We also recommend involving shopworkers themselves as well as major employers in crime reduction partnerships as they will often have the clearest idea both of the human cost of crime and of the local measures that could make a difference.
Government Response Summary
The government stated it will continue to work with relevant bodies to consider what more can be done to encourage the creation of Business Crime Reduction Partnerships but deflected the recommendation to involve shopworkers and major employers to the NABCP and individual BCRPs for consideration.
Paragraph Reference:
95
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Business crime reduction partnerships (BCRPs) play a vital role in facilitating work between businesses and police to tackle local crime priorities. There are over 250 BCRPs operating in the UK. They range in size from small schemes operating in small towns to city wide operations with several staff and hundreds of members. The National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP), the umbrella body representing BCRPs at a national level, sits on the NRCSG and is playing a key part in our work to reduce violence and abuse toward shop workers. 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. Regarding the recommendation to involve shopworkers themselves as well as major employers in crime reduction partnerships, this recommendation is for the NABCP and individual BCRPs to consider.