Best Practice for Reporting Business Crime
The MET Police Business Crime Reduction Hub has put together a document highlighting the best practices for businesses when reporting shoplifting or other kinds of business crime. The key takeaways are:
- To provide as much detail about the individual, specifically skin colour, eye colour, height, and build– as these are more difficult to change.
- Businesses are also encouraged to include names of offenders where possible– including through use of platforms such as ShopSafe.
- Businesses should also ensure CCTV is readily available for the police to access when requested.
- Even if a case has insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation, it is important that businesses continue to report crimes. This helps the MET allocate resources to local teams, and informs them about the wider issues in each area. Without consistent reporting, the MET has no data.
Please note the BID security team has moved to ShopSafe, a crime-reporting tool that makes the information we collect more accessible and valuable for further investigation and is in addition to reporting via 999 or 101. Contact support@makeitealing.co.uk for more details about ShopSafe.
You can read the full police document below; if you have any further questions, please get in touch with the MET team at businesscrime.mailbox@met.police.uk