19 SECURITY Have yourself a
merry Christmas… A
Christmas is the peak time for shoppers, but does it have to be the peak time for criminals too, asks Richard Paterson
s the economy teeters on the edge of recession once more, retailers are gearing up for a potentially
tough Christmas season. And one of the major concerns is the growing fear of increasing crime – a key issue in any economic situation. But is the Christmas and New Year period really the time of highest crime? While many reports have shown an increase in retail crime from mid-November to end-December, this is often not the case. According to new evidence from NBIS – the National Business Information System developed by Hicom in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry and the British Retail Consortium – there is strong evidence that professional criminals start stealing at an increased rate in September and October, in the knowledge that they will likely be out of jail / custody in time for Christmas. Retailers within shopping centres pay a premium and expect a
premium service, including security. The public’s perception of safety and security in these environments is essential in maintaining high footfall, which is what the retailer is ultimately paying for. Retailers need to understand their own situation to determine
how best to focus often stretched internal security resources. They need to collaborate across the business community to gain insight into both spikes in crime and identify individuals, or gangs, involved. And this is key: the vast majority of retail crime incidents are not reported to the police and hence do not figure as either crime statistics. Nor does unreported crime appear on any criminal record, presenting a false picture of an individual or gang who may be consistently re-offending. The good news is that shopping centres are a defined area and
often private land which means they have many advantages in terms of applying security measures; however all of these measures are less effective without good crime intelligence. Huge advantages can be gained through implementing a single, common way of recording and sharing information that not only builds up intelligence on retailer-specific criminals but if a new offender is flagged who has previously come to another participating retailer’s attention, any action taken against them can be based on that combined intelligence rather than just one retailer’s limited knowledge of an individual. Shopping centre managers no longer have to wait until
SHOPPING CENTRE December 2011
www.shopping-centre.co.uk
prolific offenders have robbed their retailers one after another before knowing they are involved in criminal activity. Clearly shopping centres are attractive
to the criminal; they are busy places with lots of opportunity. However, some of their natural security advantages have been eroded by complacency. Some retailers have reported higher losses in shopping centres than they are experiencing on comparable stores on the high street and are rightly asking why they are paying a premium for security which is not delivering. By reporting and sharing all incidents
of crime, retailers can collaborate among themselves, with local police and the
shopping centre security management, to identify persistent perpetrators, as well as the habits of those offenders – which stores they target, what types of goods they target and when they commit offences. This model has been proven to work. Bexley Town Safe, a Business Crime Partnership developed to combat crime and anti- social behaviour, has recently identified the impact of retail crime at over £19,000 annually in the borough alone. The partnership is now tackling this crime by increasing collaboration between stores and the police, as well as offering this insight to other parts of the justice system, such as the probation service, to ensure a complete picture of individual behaviour is available. Retailers must get smarter and look at a single, common way of
recording and sharing this information. Taking this approach, retailers will be able to get those most prolific offenders dealt with now and prevent repeat crime. Critically, it enables retailers to retarget security staff as appropriate and deter those first-timers and chance shoplifters (including internal crime from temporary staff) over the Christmas period, minimising shrinkage and providing a much needed boost to margins.
• Richard Paterson is business development director at Hicom
Find out more: For more information, please contact:
mia.hunt@
jldmedia.com
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