Lambeth Business Against Crime
Lambeth Business Against Crime (LBAC)LBAC has been established as a Business Crime Reduction Partnership with funding from Lambeth Council and Lambeth Borough Police.
WHAT IS LBAC?Lambeth Business Against Crime is a dedicated, formal and pro-active partnership between the business community, Police, CDRP, Lambeth Borough Council, Town Centre Management, CCTV and other agencies and organisations in Lambeth and Operates within strict protocols agreed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Office of the Information Commissioner.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO JOIN?
LBAC is a ‘not for profit’ organisation. There will be a basic Membership fee plus the additional cost of the radio(s) (if required). Costs will kept to a minimum and will represent outstanding value and cost effectiveness compared with the benefits to business. Membership fees will be set each year by businesses.
OVERVIEW
Over 250 city, town and shopping centres have established business crime reduction partnerships as part of their local community safety strategy under the Crime and Disorder Act.
Well-structured partnerships working within the strict operating standards and protocols set out in the Home Office guide “Community Crime Reduction Partnerships – the Retail Contribution”, can deliver up to 30% reduction in town centre crime.
•BCRPs are membership organisations of businesses in towns and cities who join together to collate information on active known or suspected criminals, to share that information and monitor their behaviour through radio, CCTV, photographs, newsletters and other means and to exclude criminals from their business premises.
•They work with police, local authorities, CDRPs and other agencies to reduce crime. Managing out crime is the common goal.
SUPPORT AND PARTNER AGENCIES
LBAC as a member of Action Against Business Crime (AABC) and the London Business Crime Group has the support of:
•Home Office and Government Office for London
•Lambeth Borough Council
•Lambeth Borough Police
•Safer Lambeth Partnership
•Lambeth Crime Prevention Panel
•Action Against Business Crime
•British Retail Consortium
•Association of Town Centre Management
•British Chambers of Commerce
ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!
1. Tried and tested national model developed by Action Against Business Crime – supported by bthe Home Office and the British Retail Consortium.
2. Lambeth Crime Prevention Panel and AABC have taken best practice from around the UK and London boroughs to set up a BCRP for Lambeth.
And, LBAC is part of the national partnership with the Home Office.
SCALE OF THE PROBLEM
During 2004, according to the British Retail Crime Survey 2005, crime in the UK is estimated to cost the retail sector £1.42 billion.
Retailers spent £710 million on crime prevention and security measures making the total cost of crime for the period £2.13 billion. The main areas of loss are:
Customer Theft £665m (45%)
Employee Dishonesty £282m (33%)
Fraud £70.6m (4.7%)
This compares with:
Burglary £49m (3.8%)
Criminal Damage £19m (1.4%)
Robbery £6.64 (0.8%)
A major concern is the sharp increase in the cost of crime as a % of turnover and
Customer theft has risen 44% since 2003.
Assaults on staff also show a significant upward trend
The Commercial Victimisation Survey found that “one in five retailers (20%)
experienced threats, assault and/or intimidation in 2002, compared with 17 per cent in 1993”.
In the last four years incidents of violence against staff have risen by 100%
More than half the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises have been victims of crime at least once in the past year, according to a study by the Federation of Small Businesses (FT, p.4 March 23 2006).
Police and other agencies are beginning to understand the complex nature of Business crime, the cross-offending of many criminals into other areas such as drugs and burglary and the opportunities it presents them to achieve significant crime reduction.
LBAC OBJECTIVES
LBAC – will harmonise with police, local authority and other agencies to ensure that business crime objectives are seen as a central part of crime reduction strategy.
LBAC will be a member of AABC with access to key contacts in Government.
LBAC as Lambeth’s BCRP will deliver a strong voice for the business community in Lambeth.
LBAC – By Business for Business. Community Led, Community Benefits
LBAC WILL
•Reduce crime/fear of crime
•Reduce violence
•Develop and encourage partnership working
•Be cost effective
•Be linked to local and regional community safety strategy
LBAC PARTNERSHIP STRUCTURE
Steering Committee
Board of Management
Paid full time crime manager (plus additional support)
Secure office accommodation
Offender target files
Photograph sharing
IT facility to manage data
Partnership documentation
Exclusion notice scheme
Radio link scheme
THREE KEY AGREED CORE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES
•Information and photograph sharing
•Radio link scheme
•Exclusion notice scheme
The main thrust of the Scheme is to prevent and deter crime from happening in the first place and not on arresting and prosecution.
Good information is used to target persistent offenders. Partnerships hold details of sightings, intelligence, incidents and other information and complement existing police intelligence systems. Partnership crime reduction allows the retailers and businesses, police, local authorities, voluntary sector and other concerned partners to work closely together to reduce opportunities for a wide range of town centre crime and to promote the concept of safe and secure town centres.
Business Information Crime System (BICS) is the IT software at the centre of the information sharing system.
Without effective and continual communication no community can exist or sustain itself.
“The absence of an effective means of communication adversely affects the ability of the police and communities to reduce crime.” Home Office (PRG Report 1995)
THE LONDON PICTURE
•Nationally – BCRPs
•12 in London
•12 working towards SBA (Safer Business Award)
•16 crime managers
•15 NBIS/BICS databases
•London Business Crime Partnership
BENEFITS - POLICE, BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY
•Reduces business and other crime and anti-social behaviour
•Reduces violence against staff
•Practical and successful – concentrates on key problems
•Based on intelligence-led strategies
•Aims to prevent crime - reducing opportunity
•Assists in identifying travelling criminals
•Provides information not currently available
•Low cost
DO PARTNERSHIPS WORK?
Despite a national increase of 44% Liverpool’s BCRP has reduced shop theft year on year in the same period.
Statistics from Cambridgeshire Constabulary - Theft from a shop:
•March – April 2003/4 – 218
•March – April 2004/5 – 157 reduction 27%
•April – September 2004 – 93
•October – March – 64
•CCTV – 2004 74 arrests, 62 generated by businesses
A SAFER LAMBETH WILL BE GOOD FOR BUSINESS AND GOOD FOR ALL
LBAC seeking the SBA Award for Lambeth. Lambeth has begun the process of seeking the National SAFER BUSINESS AWARD first awarded to the City of Wolverhampton. Together with our partners we want to make Lambeth a safe place to visit, life and enjoy.
