Business Opportunities and Crime Prevention
F
irst the good news: crime has been declining for well over a decade in most advanced western democracies.
Now the bad news: we aren’t really sure why, although recent research is pointing in the direction of increased security when we are talking about burglary, car crime, theft – the ‘bulk’ or volume crimes. Violence too is going down but Internet-related crime, mobile phone theft and some of the more technologically based offences are on the increase. These often require a level of expertise that is beyond many of the opportunistic offenders that have been deterred by the increased security of cars, homes and commercial premises; so there is hopefully a ‘ceiling’ on the extent of their increase. We’ll see.
In this short article I’d like to talk about the implications of these reductions for the private security industry, and suggest that they offer new business opportunities not only in the UK but elsewhere. But it might require some familiarity with research (as an academic I would say that, wouldn’t I!).
In the UK our best guess is that the declines in crime have been supported by a change in the approach of the Government to crime control. The Crime and Disorder Act (1997), brought in by the first Labour Government, was central to encouraging the police, local authorities and other local agencies to work together and develop a strategic approach to crime reduction at the community level. The starting point was crime data – analyse it, see what the problem is and then work out how to make it go down. There is much more to this than security patrols or CCTV cameras. We know, for example, that there are five main ways to reduce crime – increase the effort, increase the risk, reduce the rewards, reduce provocation and remove excuses.
Increasing effort might involve the typical locks and bolts with which we are all familiar and increasing risk may call for improved surveillance through CCTV cameras. Retailers hope that putting dye on high value clothes, or ink on stolen bank notes will reduce the rewards of theft. Controlling the taxi queues at busy periods when night clubs close should reduce provocation as should controlled service in pubs and bars. Similarly, well-trained door staff are not provocative in their handing of customers – they get better behaviour in other ways. Removing excuses, on the other hand, is perhaps a little more subtle. We all try
26 © CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – AUTUMN 2013
to excuse our behaviour if we have behaved badly – think back to the last time you did something you shouldn’t have done!
Removing excuses is intended to make that process a bit more difficult. So, for example, when you go to one of those nice hotels that provide bath robes, and there is a discrete
notice attached saying that if you would like to buy one you can do so at reception, the hotel management is saying ‘the bath robe is not like the tea and shampoo – don’t steal it!’ – your excuse has been removed.
Let’s look at car crime as a more detailed example. In the late 1980s the UK had the
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