Business and Retail Crime

Crimes committed against commercial businesses fall into a series of sub topics from fraud;  to factory and farm thefts; to retail theft;  to cash in transit robberies, to copyright theft. Specialist crime prevention groups such as the British Retail Consortium, offer advice and develop actions to tackle the issues. At a local level police Crime Reduction Officers and Community Safety specialists will actively advise on the issues.

The  Association of Business Crime Partnerships  works with business crime reduction partnerships (BCRPs), police, local authorities and other agencies to help businesses reduce the impact and cost of crime against them, their staff and the communities in which they trade. Other links are below.

Leaflet from Huntindon Business Against Crime

It is generally accepted that business and retail crime is hard to measure but it is accepted that 'businesses are at greater risk of crime than domestic households.... (and) the risk of repeat incidents, and the costs of incidents, are also greater for businesses than for private households.' (UK Home Office).

The impact of this type of crime is significant - effecting employment prospects in areas, company profitability, access to retail and business outlets for communities etc. The impact is variable but is especially significant for small retailers, and the communities they serve, in deprived areas (and that is not to reduce concern about these crimes of fraud, theft, robbery etc. for all the retail and business community).

  Business and Retail Crime Good Practice Links