The UK is facing a whole new era of austerity, fueled by underfunded public resources and only made worse by the COVID crisis.
Statistics show that violent crime and the use of weapons is at its worst in over 70 years. The need to work together to protect our people, our businesses and our communities has never been greater.
The Retail sector is often targeted by opportunists, it is seen as a ‘soft touch’ easy target even when security systems are installed and operating. Retail crimes have the potential to escalate, as seen by the current record levels of violence – or the threat of violence – throughout the country. The criminal element targeting this sector simply believe that there is no recourse for their activity at any level, put simply they believe that crime pays.
On-line fraud has seen a massive spike in recent years. Partly due to COVID, there has been a 300%+ increase in customer use of online trading resulting in an equivalent rise in criminal activity. Businesses need to protect themselves.
To get a sense of the scale of criminal activity affecting businesses in your area, please do take a look https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area/
The current Government has pledged to recruit 20,000 new police officers as part of an effort to stem the rise in crime. Although welcome, this alone will not have the desired impact. The business community needs to take the lead on this and set the agenda. But how big is the problem? It is estimated that in the last 12 months, across the UK c320,000 crimes were reported to the police by businesses… the real figure is thought to be c7 million!
As highlighted since 2009 we have seen a significant and continuing reduction in front line police officers – bobbies on the beat, resulting in many communities – and the people who live and trade in them – feeling vulnerable. This lack of resource not only reduces the safety on our streets and as a result only 1 in 10 offences leads to someone being charged. This heightens the potential for perpetrators to strike multiple times. We must change this and with your help we will.
On-line fraud has seen a massive spike in recent years. Partly due to COVID, there has been a 300%+ increase in customer use of online trading resulting in an equivalent rise in criminal activity. Businesses need to protect themselves.
To get a sense of the scale of criminal activity affecting businesses in your area, please do take a look https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area/
The current Government has pledged to recruit 20,000 new police officers as part of an effort to stem the rise in crime. Although welcome, this alone will not have the desired impact. The business community needs to take the lead on this and set the agenda. But how big is the problem? It is estimated that in the last 12 months, across the UK c320,000 crimes were reported to the police by businesses… the real figure is thought to be c7 million!
As highlighted since 2009 we have seen a significant and continuing reduction in front line police officers – bobbies on the beat, resulting in many communities – and the people who live and trade in them – feeling vulnerable. This lack of resource not only reduces the safety on our streets but consequently, only 1 out of every 10 offences leads to someone being charged. This heightens the potential for perpetrators to strike multiple times. We must change this and as businesses, we can!
