Cheshire Police's month of action to tackle business-related crime

A month of action to help tackle business-related crime in Cheshire took place throughout March.

Led by the Crime Prevention Team, Cheshire Police has supported the national month of action by working alongside partner organisations and local businesses across the county to combat anti-social behaviour and shoplifting.

As part of these efforts, a number of Safer Business Action (SaBA) Days were delivered.

These are a joint approach by police, businesses, private security, Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRPs) and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). They focus heavily on business engagement, raising awareness, giving advice, showing businesses how to upload digital evidence on business crime to an online platform, and asking people to complete a business crime survey.

Throughout March SaBA days took place in a variety of locations across Cheshire, including Congleton, Nantwich, Chester, Northwich, Ellesmere Port, and Warrington.

On top of this, patrols across the county were stepped up, with the higher police presence aiming to deter any anti-social behaviour or shoplifting within Cheshire’s businesses.

Cheshire Police Crime Prevention Team said:

“The SaBA days throughout March were well received and we hope they were beneficial to partners and businesses.

“This collaboration between police and the business community is key in fostering a partnership approach when dealing with all aspects of business crime. This isn’t something we can tackle alone, it requires everyone to work together.

“We’re also continuing to urge retailers to get involved with the ShopKind campaign, which encourages positive behaviour in shops, acknowledges the important role of shopworkers and raises awareness about the scale and impact of violence and abuse against them.”

Supt Patrick Holdaway, NBCC (National Business Crime Centre) Lead said:

“We are grateful to Cheshire Police and their partners for their support as part of our national month of action.

“They have been extremely proactive across the month, holding several SaBA Days and building long term relationships with retailers and other businesses within their community.

“It is really important that we understand the daily challenges our business communities face and how we can better work together to tackle crime, both in terms of prevention and in securing the best evidence possible so police can investigate and bring offenders to justice.

“SaBA Days are a great way to reinforce and build on the activity already being carried out by Cheshire Police and other police forces across the country.”