The Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership has selected NBIS (National Business Information System) from risk management and crime reduction software company Hicom.
By implementing NBIS, Brighton & Hove partnership will be able to monitor and track the activities of criminals operating within the local area by sharing intelligence and information on offenders with other crime reduction partnerships on a national level.
The 400-member-strong partnership operates day and night dealing with all aspects of crime and disorder in the retail sector and the night-time economy. The partnership was founded in 2000 with a primary focus on the retail sector. Following its success, the partnership expanded in 2007 to include the Nightsafe branch; a specific arm of the partnership set up to tackle Brighton’s night-time economy, which, with approximately 1500 licensed premises, often deals with violent and alcohol-fuelled crime. The partnership was previously using BICS (Business Information Crime System) from Hicom and recently took the decision to upgrade to NBIS due to the national data sharing capabilities of the system.
Lisa Perretta, Crime Reduction Manager, Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership, explains, “Whilst our previous BICS system from Hicom worked well, a key driver for selecting NBIS is the data sharing capabilities that the solution offers. Sussex, Crawley and Eastbourne Business Crime Reduction Partnerships are all using NBIS, which is a great benefit as it enables us to share intelligence and data easily with our neighbouring partnerships on travelling threats to the area. Having recently become a member of the Sussex Business Crime Group, we are now in a great position to share information with other partnerships operating in key towns across the county, including Hastings, Worthing, Gatwick, Bognor Regis and Chichester. Of the roughly 200 reports we get in each week, only 40 to 50 of these ever involve the police. From this you can see the wealth of information that we amass and just how much crime would stay off the radars of the authorities and partnership members were it not for the Business Crime Reduction Partnership and NBIS.”
A focus for the Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership is juvenile offenders aged between 10 and 17 who are currently being dealt with through the restorative justice system. Perretta says: “Retailers don’t tend to call the police for young offenders who steal a 99p packet of sweets or a £2 magazine. However, these young offenders are often going out and making 20 to 30 thefts a day, but as it’s only on low value items, they stay off the authorities’ radar. By recording every incident on NBIS, even when the police aren’t directly involved, we can run bespoke reports that go to the early intervention group and youth offending team, which enables the Police and authorities to combat the problem much earlier. This hopefully stops these young people from going on and committing more serious crimes.”
Perretta adds: “Without NBIS, our work would be considerably harder and our ability to share data from all 85 partnerships across the country that use the system is crucial to its success. Personally I feel it would be of enormous benefit to all Business Crime Reduction Partnerships if NBIS was recognised nationally as the best practice standard so as to maximise its potential in combating crime.”
