Business Crime Dan Hardy; also a former Corporate Crime and Security Lead at Sainsbury’s Photo courtesy of National Business Crime Solution Retailers aim for consistency in what they provide to customers; so why not in response to crime? Right: Burberry in Bond Street. London’s West End suffers from smash and grab thefts of high-value goods Photos by Mark Rowe Mayoral meet Most motorcycle crime is carried out on stolen vehicles, so making them harder to steal in the first place is essential, a recent meeting chaired by London Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Sophie Linden heard. 18 coaching for correct response: ASDA AIMS FOR CONSISTENCY A retailer is working with police towards getting consistency in response to crime, the Retail Risk conference heard from Dan Hardy, the new MD of National Business Crime Solution (NBCS) who spoke in place of Insp Sarah Cook of Thames Valley Police. That force has worked on Operation Retail with Asda; similar trials have run in Somerset and Cleveland. Dan Hardy, himself a former Met Police man, began with consistency: does a retailer train staff consistently in how to deal with confrontation? “I think the answer is no.” Likewise, does a retailer get consistent response from police when ringing? Again, response may be poor; or none at all. Have staff told police call handlers the right things? Hence the operation, to coach staff to report a crime correctly. If a security officer detains a suspect thief, the police control room will ‘triage’. The caveat, as Hardy said, is that police may not have the resources to attend, whatever the details. Police will ask about threat; harm; and risk. Thief or victim? If a store has detained a 13-yearold Rumanian shoplifter; or, is he a possible victim of human trafficking? The Thames Valley trial found an 87 per cent rise in reported business crime; and a 17pc reduction in police attending. That is, coaching and awareness can give the retailer the correct help. Hardy went through what for police are ‘aggravating factors’; a weapon such as a knife; a ‘hate crime’; threat to staff or public; an under-18 offender; a repeat offender or known vulnerable premises (such as a repeat victim of crime; and if reports don’t get through, police don’t know that, as Hardy pointed out). Everyone, as he acknowledged, can give a story of dialling for police help and not getting a reply for three hours. The op offers at least the benefit that the shop would know police are not coming, and could move the offender on, saving the retailer time. Sainsbury’s besides Asda are looking to roll this out further. p NOVEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY Centre launch Last month saw the launch of the National Business Crime Centre. Metropolitan Police Det Chief Insp Georgie Barnard, pictured, described it to the Retail Risk conference in Leicester beforehand. Among the aims; to ‘deliver a better policing response’ to organised crime, working with the City of London Police (on fraud) and the National Crime Agency, on organised crime against businesses that police might not be picking up. She said: “I understand the frustration with Action Fraud [the official national reporting line]. I absolutely get that the system isn’t working as it should be.” Bond Street The centre is looking at specialist crimes, such as ‘moped-enabled’ robberies on high-end stores in Bond Street in London’s West End. Besides working with the Met’s Flying Squad on policing response to those smashand-grabs, the centre is working with local government on trying to design out crime in that area, such as with street furniture. The centre wants to share alerts and updates on incidents; and Georgie urged security people if working on a project worth doing in other places to share too; ‘the more input we have, everybody benefits’. Work with the National College of Policing and universities is looking at ‘what works’, another sign of a more business-like police. As Georgie said: “Your bosses don’t want to invest in things that haven’t been evaluated, and my bosses don’t.” Speaking to a retail loss prevention and related audience, she urged security teams to reach out to local police, and encouraged local briefings, saying there was nothing more frustrating than having police on a high street and security teams on the same street, working in different ways and not properly briefed. She praised Sainsbury’s in Sussex, where the chain’s security contractor Mitie besides working in supermarkets will walk through high streets wearing tabards, ‘and this is proving really successful’. They become more familiar with other security teams in the area, ‘and they really do collaborate and share intelligence and information and guess what, it drives down crime in that area, people feel it is a nicer, safer environment to go in and shop, and we need to see more of that kind of collaboration.’ Lack of trust She acknowledged that one of the biggest challenges is lack of trust by police in private security; also a theme of the Security Institute annual conference, two days earlier. DCI Barnard’s centre besides working on counter-terrorism does work on the police-industry crosssector email alerts, CSSC, as she recalled set up for the Olympics in case of anticipated problems, and proven successful. It’s free to sign up to and is rolling out nationally. She described herself as a ‘big fan’ of local business crime reduction partnerships, who know the ‘local scalliwags’. Here again she admitted that retailers may struggle to see the value in paying for so many, and said that the centre will be setting out what a local partnership should look like, seeking to raise standards. On violence reduction (‘number one priority for all of us’) she thanked Iona Blake of Boots and others for setting up with the Home Office a working group, looking at technical (body worn cameras) and training (in conflict management), besides working with the Ministry of Justice, aiming to reduce violence against shop staff. p www.professionalsecurity.co.uk p18 retailrisk <strong>27</strong>-11.indd 1 10/10/2017 16:17
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