SFA
87pc of respondents were of the opinion that crime has increased or remained static.Thismay be influenced by the fact that 66pc of respondents were victims of crime on at least two occasions
17pc of respondents had experienced crime while travelling on business.This included theft of cash,credit card fraud and theft of property
26pc of respondents were victims of advance fee, business directory or overseas frauds.
THEMAJOR FORMS OF CRIME CITED Theft of stock
Criminal damage Theft of cash Burglary
Theft of property Credit/cheque card Internal fraud
18pc 14pc 13pc 11pc 10pc 9pc 3pc
Armed robbery/syringe 1pc Extortion
1pc ONLINE FRAUD
Firms are increasing their use of IT and the internet on a daily basis, and while this brings enormous benefits to the business, firmsmust realise they are vulnerable when online. A worrying trend is the increased number of small firms being
the victims of a range of online crimes, including internet scams, identity fraud,phishing and data theft.The costs of these incidents ranged up to €20,000, with the average cost per incident being €5,663, an increase of €3,500 on 2007 figures. Firms must have adequate safeguards in place to protect their
ITsystems and staff fromthese problems.This can take the form of a multi-layered security approach or they can minimise or remove threats by instigating and enforcing an acceptable email and internet policy within their organisation.The policy must clearly set out rules for personal use and prohibit access to offensive material.
INTERNAL FRAUD
Internal fraud is another growing problem for many small firms, but very few businesses recognise the problemexists until it is too late. Small companies that do not have the necessary internal controls in place are open season for fraudsters.Cash handling and lodgements, rawmaterials, finished product,computer fraud, false invoices and delivery notes as well as false expense claims are all areas where businesses should bemost vigilant. Fraud risk is higher than ever before and white-collar fraud is
prevalent in small business and is hidden by nature. Small businesses tend to be reactive, rather than proactive, in dealingwith fraud; however, it must be treated as an everyday risk and small firms that do not take preventative steps are exposing their business to serious losses. The small-business community is under constant siege from
planned, professional criminality and the conviction rates being achieved in Ireland fall far short ofwhat is being achieved in other jurisdictions,particularly theUK.
In addition to the obvious costs of crime such as insurance, there
are many hidden costs, including the cost of lost production, administrative costs associated with crime investigation, higher staff turnover, absenteeism, stress, loss of premises, degeneration of business areas, closures and job losses. It would appear that business crime does not feature on the
political agenda.Both businesses and citizens no longer have faith in a systemthat has a constitutional responsibility to protect them. For too long the emphasis has been placed on the needs of the perpetrator and not the victims of crime.This must change and every citizen and business in the Statemust be reassured that the necessary steps will be taken. The SFAis calling for the following approach to reduce the cost
and incidence of crime on business,both at policy and operational levels.TheGovernment and the gardaímust address the concerns of small business surrounding the criminal justice system’s ability to deal with the problemof crime. Rather than calling for new laws to be enacted those laws
currently on the statute book must be rigorously applied to all forms of crime. A strategy for the penal systemshould be formulated so that it
provides an effective deterrent and at the same time aims to rehabilitate offenders and prevent recidivism. It is widely recognised that reformof the legal systemor the courts systemis futile without reform of the penal system. Already the prison system does not have the capacity to deal with those being convicted or sentenced. Small business is spending billions of euro on security
provision and yet the incidence, extent, scope and costs associated with crime are increasing. This alone reflects the societal changes that are taking place and that’s why it’s so important that crime, its prevention and the manner in which we deal with convicted criminals must change, otherwise our society is in serious danger.
VOL 3 ISSUE 3 2010 OWNER MANAGER 45
The latest figures available fromAnGarda Síochána showthat
the annualised number of headline cases reported to the gardaí was 284,131.The number of convictions achieved was 41,792. From these figures it appears there is very little chance of Irish criminals ever being brought to justice.
THE TABLE BELOWSETS OUT THE TYPE OF CRIME AND THE LEVEL OF CONVICTIONS ACHIEVED:
Crime HeadlineNos Convictions to date Assaults /harassment Drugs Theft
Burglaries Robberies Frauds
17,585 18,583 75,217 23,566 2,173 5,851
142,975
1,340 3,226 6,422 1,595 211 523
13,317
Total of all reported cases including those listed above 284,131.Convictions 41,792. (Source: IPADiary 2010)
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