Don’t have nightmares….
Published: 31 March, 2011
Initiatives involving partnerships between shopping centre management and security teams and the police can have dramatic results in fighting retail crime.
One such initiative, Operation Respect, saw management at Middleton Grange shopping centre in Hartlepool join forces with police to lower shoplifting offences with dramatic results.
There were 32 reported shoplifting offences at the centre in August 2010. By October, when the partnership was up and running, that number had dropped to eight and in December – despite being the busiest month of the year – there were only four incidents, showing a reduction of 70 per cent.
The centre was approached by the district commander of police who wanted to bring in a new programme with the aim of reducing crime in Hartlepool.
In what centre manager, Mark Rycraft describes as an “unprecedented move”, the initiative meant that police helped to deal with retail crime on private land – rather than leaving it solely to private sector security teams – visiting Middleton Grange three or four times a month and helping to train staff.
Fully supported by Cushman & Wakefield which manages Middleton Grange, police and centre management worked together to put a strategy in place.
“First we looked at crime patterns and tried to understand why it was occurring,” says Rycraft. “We found that a lot of the shoplifting in local shopping centres was drug related.”
The centre had a ban list for repeat offenders but it was hard to monitor.
“Our security team are familiar with about 30 individuals on the ban list but the police have a much wider knowledge of locals with a record of retail crime and we were able to share intelligence,” says Rycraft.
The new operation meant that anyone who was caught shoplifting anywhere in the town would automatically be banned from Middleton Grange and police officers visited repeat offenders and drug users issuing them with letters informing them of the restrictions.
This method wielded additional benefits. “The police were knocking on doors to get offenders up in the morning while assessing their clothing for recognition purposes and passing this information onto our security team,” explains Rycraft.
making an entrance
Part of the problem was the design of the centre, which has 12 entry points.
“It was about new tactics,” says Inspector Lee Rukin, Crime & Operations at Hartlepool Police and head of Operation Respect. “I did a full security review and found that a large proportion of the crimes were taking place at vulnerable locations near the entry and exit points.”
“It’s nigh on impossible to staff all the entrances,” adds Rycraft. “We would have had to employ four or five staff members on top of our existing security team which wasn’t economically viable.”
Rukin put in place what he describes as a “sterile zone tactic”.
“We put static control in place which meant that security staff were partnered with uniformed police officers and stationed at the entrances.”
The idea was also to increase the confidence of shop workers and security staff and encourage them to challenge suspicious individuals at the doors.
“Developing the static door technique meant that there was a visible challenge to criminality and a front-line prevention method,” says Rukin. “If offenders can’t get through the door, they can’t steal.”
According to Rycraft, the operation had an immediate impact on retail crime.
“We assessed crime figures reported by retailers and found that incidents had dropped considerably,” he says. “Our tenants reported that hundreds if not thousands of pounds have been saved.
“But it’s not just about retail crime and saving profitability, it’s also about reducing the fear of crime.
If our regular shoppers hear of crime in Middleton Grange, in some ways that far outweighs the crime itself.”
“There were empty units in the centre because retailers were reluctant to invest,” adds Rukin. “But Mark can now demonstrate that it’s a more attractive place and he’s been successful in welcoming new tenants.”
Rycraft is delighted with the results.
“I’ve been in the industry for 20 years and I’ve never heard of an initiative like this,” he says. “It’s a breath of fresh air and it’s made me think differently about how crime can be dealt with in shopping centres. Before we were chasing offenders out of the centre but with the right resources we can stop them coming in in the first place.”
The operation is short-lived and was due to end in February 2011. Rycraft admits that the centre is going to have to employ additional members of staff, although not as many as originally thought, and he will continue to share intelligence with the police. The police may also continue to provide police officers at times when they’re surplus to requirements in the town.
Rukin says that it would be “naive” to assume that the operation could be replicated on the same scale in other malls and town centres, explaining that it depends on the dynamics of the shopping centre in question and the resources of local police. The cutbacks are also a worry.
“I’m extremely pleased with the partnership,” says Rukin. “It was a huge challenge to develop but the shops have all reported reduced product losses and customers have been commenting on how the feel of the centre has improved.
“The aim was to challenge offenders and build confidence and the strategy worked – I’d recommend similar initiatives. Partnerships and information sharing is vital and it was a tremendous learning experience.”
radio pARTNERSHIP
In a similar initiative, the Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership (PBCRP) utilises a two-way radio network covering the entire city which links the police and other local authorities with businesses in the area including the Cascades shopping centre and other retail outlets.
The scheme was set up in 2003 with just 10 members, now the partnerships consists of more than 75 users and is continuing to grow.
Retail outlets that are members of PBCRP each have hand portable radios, installed by DCRS. The radios are used by managers or senior staff to alert all other shops and the CCTV controller when known shoplifters or troublemakers enter the premises or are seen in the vicinity. The CCTV controller tracks the suspect’s movements and, if a crime takes place, reports it immediately to nearby police to assist in making an arrest.
“Using the hand portable radios has led to a 30 per cent reduction in shoplifting across the board,” says Rhoda Joseph, centre director of Cascades shopping centre and chair of the PBCRP board of governors. “In some cases shops have reported even better results.”
The Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) is another option and something that Mark Rycraft is thinking about entering Middleton Grange into. The scheme encourages closer working with the police and grants accredited staff a limited range of legal powers.
Security officers from the Vision Security Group (VSG) – who patrol The Galleries in Bristol (formally The Mall) – have been involved in CSAS since 2006 and have been given a range of powers in helping to tackle anti-social behavior.
Accreditation has also helped to formalise the lines of communication between the police and the centre with increased information and intelligence sharing.
Agreed protocols permit accredited staff to request PNC checks on individuals and vehicles in the centre’s car park – particularly useful in heightened security alerts.
In addition, the local Safer Neighbourhood Team in Broadmead, Bristol has supported CSAS with a mini police station located on site in the shopping centre, helping to foster a relationship between local retailers and the police.
