Over 400 SaBA Days held during the NBCC month of action
In March, police and partners from across the country took part in a month of action to tackle retail crime in their communities. The NBCC organised the initiative and asked all forces to carry out at least one Safer Business Action Day during the month.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, with 40 police forces holding a total of 442 SaBA Days, working alongside BIDs, BCRPs and private security companies. There were nearly 3,000 police officers and staff involved in the activity and 459 arrests were made.
A number of police forces such as Kent, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Northants and West Mercia held force wide days of action, and between them they had 49 SaBA Days involving over 400 officers and staff with 73 arrests.
There was some great feedback from forces:
Gwent Police said: “Good feedback from TK Maxx Loss prevention officer, they were awaiting our arrival in store, had seen the publicity. They felt like Police were now stepping up when it comes to shoplifting and taking it seriously again."
Cambridgeshire Police reported: “249 business engaged with, 243 prevention advice give, 529 hours of patrols and 15 partners involved. Some useful engagement regarding reporting challenges and longer term problem solving pieces of work that have been established as a result.”
Derbyshire added: “Derbyshire ran 3 dedicated SABA days in 3 priority areas over March, however this was during a whole week of action 11-17th March. This week targeted 5 areas and had the following results, 21 arrests, 48 offences charged, 5 reported for summons, 2 restorative justice disposals, 6 civil order applications and 3 dispersal orders issued."
Sussex Police said: “Extensive engagement throughout March with hundreds of retail business across Sussex, including supermarkets, garden centres & smaller stores with updates on investigations and arrests, and crime prevention & crime reporting advice and effective use of CCTV/BWV to staff.”
The Safer Business Network in London shared that they had visited 550 businesses, had 248 police officers involved, conducted 59 Stop Searches, issued 12 CROs, 20 CPN(W)s and made 20 arrests. In all the Met Police supported 91 SaBA Days across the capital involving over 750 officers and staff with 87 arrests.
Devon and Cornwall held six SaBA Days resulting in the arrest of two prolific offenders in Exeter who were charged for shoplifting and assaults on staff. They also had lots of positive engagement with businesses throughout the force.
The month saw some fantastic results and demonstrates the work being done by police and partners to tackle the issue of retail and business crime.
The National Association of Business Crime Partnerships has released a roundup of some of the the activity and results from the month of action, with some impressive stats and results.. Click here to download it: SaBA Month Roundup