Action Against Business Crime was formed by the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium as a response to rising levels of crime in shops and other small businesses around the country. Crime problems for businesses had been made more difficult by police concentration on national key objectives such as domestic burglary, personal robbery, car crime and violence. With acquisitive crime increasing as the recession takes hold, now is the time for all businesses to ensure they protect their future from theft, burglary, robbery and violence.
By forming business crime reduction partnerships in cities, towns, shopping centers and other areas with concentrations of business, much has been achieved in reducing crime and anti-social behavior in many areas. It is far better to develop a structured response to crime before it happens than to have to call police after it has happened.
By getting retailers and other businesses to communicate with each other by radio, sharing information about local criminals and alerting each other to suspicious people and transactions, a great deal more can be done to reduce the opportunity to commit crime. Remember, thieves operate best when their behavior is anonymous and not known to other people. By working together, it reduces that anonymity, exposes criminals to greater risk of being detected and reduces their opportunity to commit crime.
Working together will not eliminate crime, but it will bring positive results as known local criminals and anti-social elements know they will be identified and that their details will be passed to other businesses. It also means that local police have a better chance of dealing with these people because they will have much more evidence of the actions and behaviour of those people who cause most trouble locally.
As part of its work, AABC now provides better and more cost-effective security systems for small businesses, which suffer higher levels of burglary and, in many cases, do not have adequate security. Bells only alarms are not normally responded to by police, so something better is required to give small businesses that level of protection provided by police response systems affordable generally by bigger businesses at far greater cost.
Working with a security provider, AABC has developed a key holder response security system, which is monitored by a central security center in the same way as a much more expensive police response system. The security center can listen in to hear if anyone is on the premises after the alarm is activated and advise the keyholder accordingly. The system also has a lone worker alert, which allows staff to contact the security centre who will listen in and who can speak to the lone worker and provide assistance if required. The security system also features a smoke detector as fires frequently mean that effected businesses never recover.
To reduce the financial burden, there is no up-front capital outlay for the system. All that is required is a three year agreement that covers the cost of the hardware, the monitoring and maintenance, all this has been price pointed at £35 per month plus vat - or £38 per month plus vat with smoke detection, - that's about £9 a week for first class security which is considered affordable to almost every business. This provides protection which is seen as being far more effective than bells only by your insurer and which will ensure you obtain the best insurance deals as well as protecting your future. On there web, you can check for online insurance quotes.
For more information visit http://www.businesscrimereduction.org to see the full range of security systems on offer - shop, office and unit.
