Demystify crime classifications for businesses

The National Business Crime Centre has produced a comprehensive guide for businesses to help them understand different crime classifications and what they mean.

The aim of the guidance is to help provide consistency to businesses about what different types of crimes are called and recorded as and what differentiates one from another.

The guide includes new changes to the robbery crime classification.  Previously shop thefts which included violence, were often recorded as shop theft with a separate offence of assault, now they will be classed as the more serious offence of robbery.  A typical example is where a shop thief uses or threatens violence to security guards or shop staff in order to escape the store with the stolen goods.

NBCC lead Supt Patrick Holdaway said: “The guide provides a breakdown of key crimes which impact businesses as well as practical examples of each crime type to bring them to life and help businesses understand why certain crimes are classified in certain ways. We hope it helps demystify the world of crime classifications for the business community who may be confused and frustrated by why crimes are recorded as something different to what they reported them as.”

You can download the Business Crime Classifications Guide by clicking here: Business Classification Guide