ABCP Conference: membership stabilising but retailers' attitude to partnerships too often 'perverse'

At the recent ABCP annual conference, the association's new chairman asked: "Why isn't there a clamouring queue" of big retailers wanting to join crime reduction partnerships? Too many of them, he said, are 'perverse' in their attitude.

Allyn Thomas, erstwhile ACPO lead on business crime and now, since his retirement last year, chair of the Association of Business Crime Partnerships, asked rhetorically why large retailers focus on volume as a key performance indicator, and seem near oblivious to 'shrinkage' which hits their bottom line hard.

Thomas was speaking at the start of the conference held at the Coventry Hilton on May 24. Despite a lack of support from some major retailers for their local partnerships, ABCP reported that its membership is now stable and showing signs of recovery after a few years of slight decline.

Presentatons at the conference included an in-depth look at the various activities of Maidstone BCRP - 'MaidSafe'. Crime Manager Bill Moss described how the partnership continues to thrive despite the retail and night time recession.  Activities include deploying 'Urban Blue' - a refurbished double-decker - in the town centre at night to act as a point of contact and first response to safety issues as well as a source of medical supplies and expertise that has saved the local ambulance an estimated 397 call-outs in the last 12 months.

Bill also explained how breathalyzer research on those entering nightclubs and pubs showed that 46% had more than 10mgs of alcohol in their bloodstream before they had even started to visit licensed premises; 20% had more than 35mgs - truly drunk. As a response MaidSafe has own-branded 10,000 bottles of drinking water with health advice and is distributing them to revelers at night. The secret of MaidSafe's success?  Bill Moss said it was simple: "We talk to each other". 

Other presentations included Nigel Liddell of Brighton & Hove BCRP who made a convincing argument that the Night Time Levy may back-fire on the government, restricting the good practice of licensed premises while leaving the increasingly prolific and unregulated off-trade free to continue to stoke the pre-loading problem and, on Brighton beach at least, the post-loading problem too.

Phil Collins, now head of securiity at Bernard Matthews but previously head of security at TK Maxx, gave an insight into professional loss reduction management in a major high street multiple. While at TK Maxx he instituted a 12-man national investigation team, ensured that staff were properly trained in surveillance and were RIPA-compliant, and developed an Action Investigation Package which provided police with intelligence of a high evidenciary standard, thus enabling more effective prosecutions.

As in previous years, the conference ended with the ABCP Awards for outstanding work by member partnerships.  In the category Managing the Night Time Economy the winner was Gsafe (Gravesend) with commendations for Brighton & Hove BCRP. In the Partnership Innovation category the winner was Cherwell Business Against Crime, with commendations for Somerset West Business Against Crime and Southampton Businesses Against Crime. In the category for Promoting Community Safety the winner was Exeter Business Against Crme with commendations for Dacorum Business Against Crime and Dover Crime Prevention Partnership.

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