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Deputy Commissioner advises Black Friday retailers

Dear Retailer,

Re: Black Friday – Retail / Police Coordination

 

I write in my capacity as the National Police Chief’s Council lead for Business Crime Reduction and Private Security Industry liaison.

As we approach Black Friday, and enter the run-up to the Christmas period, I would like to encourage a close working relationship between retailers, the business community, private security and police. Last year we saw that planning and partnership working can have a significant impact on preventing some of the issues we experienced on Black Friday in previous years. I urge you to continue this good work so that the violence and disorder is avoided.

Please ensure that your marketing and security teams communicate with each other, and that you have sufficient staff on duty during this busy period. Do not expose the public, your staff, security or the Police to avoidable risk.

It is encouraging that many of you have again decided to spread the Black Friday sales period across the week, rather than relying on just one day. Please ensure that you communicate these changes in timings to all store partners who can contribute to your customers’ safety.

Collectively we have obligations to ensure public safety, and to that end, could I ask that you work closely with your in-store staff, security teams and police to make them aware of changes to opening times, to anticipate increased footfall and also queues outside stores prior to opening. This may sound obvious, but previous incidents were unacceptable and simply could have been avoided with a better focus on customer safety rather than just high volume sales.

Yours faithfully,

 

Craig Mackey, Deputy Commissioner

National Lead for Business Crime (NBCC)

 

Next Steps

Please have a look at the guidance in our guidance section https://nbcc.police.uk/article/?id=d36b53f9f81bc61c090e8984ac7c293d