Avon & Somerset Business Crime Reduction Group (BCRP) was launched in November, bringing together the area’s partnerships, to share information and intelligence.
Initiated in February by Bath and District Business Crime Reduction Partnership, over the last nine months meetings have been held between six of the region’s BCRPs, with community safety and data protection staff from Avon & Somerset Police headquarters and Action Against Business Crime (AABC). Loss prevention and private security staff have been invited. All see potential benefits in a strategic group to assist towns and cities to share target criminal information.
This forum brings together commercial organisations, such as Dixons, Bradfords, PC World and others and will provide a strong base on which to develop similar Groups across a wider area in future.
With a support framework from both Avon & Somerset Constabulary and AABC, the Avon & Somerset Business Crime Reduction Group is the first and only one of its kind in the South West and only one of three in the UK.
Avon and Somerset Insp Peter Saban, at Community Safety HQ, said: "This group raises the level of partnership working by attacking the very essence of the travelling criminal who blights our town centres. By bringing together these towns under one common structure it allows a strong and robust response for tackling this type of criminality by sharing information about offenders." Six BCRPs have the Safer Business Award – Bath, Glastonbury (the AABC 2006 overall award winner), Taunton, Wells, Weston super Mare and Yeovil.
The BCRP has a constitution, is insured and registered with the Information Commissioner so that it can carry out its intention of circulating, sharing intelligence and best practice. In the past, organisers report, each partnership has worked in isolation but with this group, it will be possible to share information about known offenders who travel across the counties.
