Retail Crime at a Record High

According to the BRC’s 2015 Retail Crime Survey, the cost of crime on the retail market was over £600 million in 2015, which is an increase on last year with more than 4 million offences committed. While there are problems in any survey of this the, and caution is needed in relying on findings, the results merit attention. 

Of all the crimes, theft was the most prominent with more than a 30% increase in 2015 compared to 2014. Of these thefts, nearly a third were committed by organised crime groups which has become a common trend in recent years. More shockingly, the survey also revealed that each theft by an employee cost on average £788 more than a theft by a customer. This highlights the range of challenges facing retailers and shopping centres when dealing with crime.

As well as theft, fraud and cyber crime are shown to unsurprisingly be on the rise. As cyber crime is becoming such a prominent issue, don’t forget that we are currently holding a survey on ‘Tackling Cyber Crime: The Role of Private Security’:

If you are a physical and/or cyber/information security professional and would like to have your say visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SRI-cyber-crime. The survey is anonymous, takes approx 10 minutes to complete and the findings will be made available to participants. The deadline for responses is the 28th February 2016.

Keeping an organisation safe from crime generates a range of approaches.  One is to follow good basic procedures, and one accreditation scheme that reflects this is the Secured Environments accreditation. ‘Secured Environments‘ is a police certification scheme. It is awarded to organisations that are able to show that they have adopted six key principles for protecting themselves against crime. The accreditation is well suited to shopping centres indeed last year 12 shopping centres were accredited:

Castlepoint – Bournemouth

Centre Court – Wimbledon

Charles Darwin – Shrewsbury

Churchill Square – Brighton

County Mall – Crawley

Gallions Reach – Barking

Palace Exchange – Enfield

Palace Gardens – Enfield

Parkway – Newbury

Pride Hill – Shrewsbury

Thistles – Stirling

Water Gardens – Harlow

To read more about Secured Environments, please visit www.securedenvironments.com 

If Secured Environments is something of interest to you, please contact us at securedenvironments@perpetuityresearch.com