City centre businesses are being supported in their efforts to tackle retail crime and anti-social behaviour by Derby’s two Business Improvement Districts (BID’s), Derby Cathedral Quarter BID and St Peters Quarter BID.
The BIDs have supported a range of initiatives for their members including Store Watch, a system of radio handsets linked to each other and to the Safer Neighbourhood Police team. They also fund membership to the Derbyshire Business Crime Reduction Partnership which allows access to the DISC online crime reporting system. These tools allow businesses to quickly and easily report instances of retail crime which are logged in a database that can then be followed up by Derbyshire police.
These measures are supported by patrols from the BID Rangers who work closely with businesses in the city centre and assist in liaising with public protection officers and the police. Safer Neighbourhood Days are also co-ordinated by the BID which are an opportunity for businesses to have one to one meetings with the police to express their concerns and pose any questions they may have.
A training day for city centre businesses wanting to understand how these schemes can help was held this month at Derby Council House.
The event will highlight current challenges within the city, what actions are being taken to deter anti-social behaviour and how to effectively report and record crimes. Speakers at the event also included Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa and Sergeant Jamie Millard from Derbyshire Police’s Safer Neighbourhood Team.
The training day was tied to the national ‘Safer Business Action month’ campaign from the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC).
“Tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour is a huge priority for us,”, said – Brad Worley, Manager for the Derby Cathedral Quarter and St Peters Quarter BIDs.
Retail crime and anti-social behaviour is a pressing issue for the city with Derbyshire experiencing a notable increase in shoplifting last year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) also recently reported that 1,300 incidents of violence or abuse against retail staff are taking place every day across the UK.
“Raising awareness among businesses and the public on how to report crime and explaining the roles of different partners in reporting, referring, and tackling anti-social behaviour is vital. We’ve seen some great successes with these initiatives so far, and we encourage more businesses to get involved by attending our training day.”
Any city centre businesses wanting to attend the session, are invited to contact Cathedral Quarter BID via [email protected], including a company name and contact number.
