These pages contain useful and practical information on crime reduction methods and advice on increased security ...

What is 'Derbyshire Business Against Crime'? 

Because of the way in which crime and crime statistics are recorded, the nature, scale and cost of crime against business can be particularly hard to quantify. Additionally, the fact that such crimes are often incorrectly perceived to be victimless, means that in the past, the effects of such crime have been rather downplayed.

Last year, there were over 19,000 crimes committed against local businesses. This figure excludes vehicle crime, and of course in addition to this there will be many crimes that are not even reported to the police.

What we do now know is that in actual fact, businesses are at a far greater risk of crime than domestic households. It has also been highlighted that the risk of repeat incidents, and indeed the costs of these incidents in general, are also greater for businesses than they are for private households. 

“The British Chamber of Commerce 2001 Business Crime Survey reported that 58% of businesses have been a victim of crime in the last 12 months.” 

The British Chambers of Commerce British Crime Survey 2001 estimated that crime against business cost the UK economy approximately £19bn per year.   It follows therefore that far from being victimless, in actual fact; the effects of business crime are widely felt, not just on the employer, but also the employees, on customers and the wider community. The side effects of crime are mainly a downturn in profitability, deterred investment and the hastening of business closure or failure. Clearly this in turn causes distress for staff, saps morale and adversely affects staff turnover. 

Working in conjunction with The East Midlands Development Agency; Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce; Derbyshire County Council; Derbyshire Constabulary aims to reduce business crime and the fear of business crime.

In the first scheme of its type, Derbyshire Constabulary with support from the aforementioned Partners, have employed a Business Crime Co-ordinator working within the Chambers of Commerce to combat the growing problem of crime suffered by businesses.  

This website is a useful source of information for anyone in business who is serious about reducing their chances of becoming a victim.   Unfortunately, as there always has been, there will always be crime.   Working together we can reduce the opportunities and make it harder for those who commit crime. 

Would you like to receive free advice and information on current problems?

If you are interested in receiving Crime Prevention Advice, or receiving information on current crime problems affecting businesses in Derbyshire, please visit the E-Alert Signup & Contact Details page and email our Business Crime Co-ordinator so that your details can be added to our database.  As and when we receive information it will be emailed out to participants.  There is no charge for this service.   

Additional Information and other useful sites 

In addition to the information collated by the Business Crime Co-ordinator, a number of links to other useful sites have been listed throughout the website.   We hope that you will take some time to look into these additional sources of relevant information. 

The Importance of Reporting Crime 

There are a number of instances where "victims", or for the purposes of this initiative, “businesses” do not report incidents of crime.   In part, this is sometimes due to either apathy, or lack of faith in police, however, there are several instances where this is not the case. 

What is becoming apparent is that businesses quite often only report crime where there is a requirement by the insurer to provide a crime reference number. 

Whilst there will always be instances where Police attendance is not required, or where the Police may be unable to attend, it is still worthwhile reporting any incidents, or attempted and unsuccessful incidents as this information can be used for Crime Pattern Analysis. 

If the Police are aware of particular trends, businesses can be warned in advance of any potential problems allowing them to take preventative action and warn employees or customers.  

Additionally, it is vital that information on incidents is reported at the very earliest opportunity.   We are unable to take action and warn others if the information is not passed to us until several days later.   The sooner we have information, the sooner we can act and inform others at risk. 

We are keen to assist businesses in taking a pro-active stance against crime rather than a reactive stance.   To this end, as part of the new Derbyshire Business Against Crime initiative, we would like to set up an ‘e-alert’ system.   

The purpose of this would be used to pass on information to those parties who have opted to receive information from Derbyshire Police.   As and when relevant information is received, ie a particular trend of crime in a certain area, this information will be sent out to your nominated representative via email. 

So why is crime not reported? 
 
Below is a list that the BCC Crime Survey identified as the main reasons for not reporting crime to the Police – underneath each, we have tried to outline the response:

No confidence in police response 

It is not physically possible for the Police to attend every incident.   Additionally, it is not always beneficial for an officer to attend as professional thieves are highly unlikely to have left any sort of evidence. 

Fear of reprisal 

Although this to proprietors is a very real fear, in actual fact this is rare.   If there is information on a suspect, they are unlikely to risk further offences on the same injured party as it may further corroborate their initial involvement.  

No loss/damage 

This does happen. It may have been an unsuccessful attempt, or the perpatrators were disturbed before they were able to carry out their intended actions.   Even if you suffer no loss or damage it is still beneficial to report any incidents so that they can be recorded and used for Crime Pattern Analysis. 

Unable to contact police 

At peak times, this happens occasionally.  Already since January this year, over 52,000 crimes have been reported - the Police get very busy too.   Make a note of your local police stations number as well as the central number.   If you report a crime or an attempted crime, you are not obliged to make a claim on insurance. 

Matter dealt with internally 

We are pleased to hear that your organisation has been able to deal with the matter effectively.  But again, this information is useful to the Police and could be used to warn other businesses about particular trends and problems.  

Disclaimer :  
Much of the information available through this site is via links to other sites. Any information or opinions expressed within those websites are solely those of the author/organisation and do not necessarily represent those of Derbyshire Constabulary, who accept no legal responsibility for the contents. 

Crime prevention advice is given free of charge and without any intention of forming a contract. Neither the Police, or the Home Office (Chambers of Commerce) can take any legal responsibility for the advice given. Crime prevention advice can only be given as to what measures might reduce the risk of crime, however, it has been shown that crime prevention advice that has been acted upon has reduced the likelihood of repeat victimisation.   No guarantee can be given that such measures will prevent crime.