The police’s National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) has released an information sharing agreement with the membership body National Business Crime Solution (NBCS), allowing the police in certain circumstances to share data with the NBCS.
Patrick Holdaway as the superintendent in charge of the NBCC led the piece of work; City of London Supt Lisa Maslen has since taken over the NBCC. Patrick said: “Data sharing between the police, partners and retailers is a critical tool in crime prevention but it has historically relied on the need for data sharing agreements, which can take time to put in place. We have worked with data sharing experts to develop a range of forms so data can be shared with retailers, private security companies BIDs [business improvement districts] and BCRPs [business crime reduction partnerships] where there is a policing purpose for doing so.
“By sharing information about known offenders it will help police and retailers intervene earlier, preventing crimes like shop theft, organised retail crime and violence against shop workers before they escalate.
The NBCC has put together a guide for policing and partners about what data can be shared, what shouldn’t be shared, what constitutes a policing purpose, other considerations and what forms need to be completed to ensure the sharing of any data is legally compliant: visit https://nbcc.police.uk/partnerships/data-sharing. That link also offers what the data privacy watchdog the Information Comissioner’s Office (ICO) has to offer on the subject; and case studies of good practice, including by the Co-op and the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP). The guidance sums up: “Information sharing at a local level works.”
More on business crime reduction in the August and September editions of Professional Security Magazine.
About the NBCC
The National Business Crime Centre dates from 2017 and has been ‘owned’ by the City of London Police since 2020; it does not handle cases of crime against businesses, but rather is a hub to link police and business for the developing of public policy, for the greater good of tackling crime. Visit https://nbcc.police.uk/about-us.
