Within the security and retail industry sharing the right information about crime is vital to any successful organisation. Knowledge of a pattern of crime and how to deter it can be more effective to a retailer in preventing losses than the use of a CCTV camera or security officer on the floor.
Information sharing is currently used widely within the industries and is one area of business that is widely accepted should be open to all competitors. A popular way of sharing information at present is via a round robin email system. For example one business will flag a problem and email the details to 10 of its colleagues and others business contacts, these 10 will then pass it onto 10 more each, and these then pass to 10 more and so on. Passing the information like this, although sometimes effective, does have its own problems.
Mark James owner of MJ Retail Security Consultancy, says: “The key to any type of information sharing system is the speed and accuracy of the information that is being sent. The problem with the pyramid or round robin system is that it takes time for the information to filter out, sometimes month’s after the crime has been reported, in the mean time businesses are still being affected. The information on this system also may not include the right type of information such as car registration numbers, accurate descriptions of suspects, times and dates of incidents that have occurred, all of these are important in being able to build a detailed picture of how the crime can be deterred.”
One other issue with information sharing: most of the information goes between the larger national retailers and security companies; however much of the information is not accessible to the small retailers and independent businesses, excluding a large portion of the British businesses who potentially hold information to reduce these crimes quicker and faster. Or, as there are no set mailing lists, some people will receive the same information time and time again, which in turn can become frustrating and also cause some emails to be missed
Mark James offers these tips on information sharing.
Detail is everything. Just writing I had a theft today of some razor blades is not enough. The smallest piece of information may be the most important. Make notes of everything so that you can pass it all on. The main things to remember are, the time and dates, full descriptions of persons involved (skin colour, hair colour, facial hair, height, sex, clothing worn, appearance) movements around the store and anything that makes this person unique.
Get the information out yesterday. An offender that devises a new technique will be aware that they only have a short period of time before stores figure out how they are taking the stock. Due to this they often use the same technique many times. It is therefore vital that once a retailer has discovered the crime and how it is being committed that the information is shared as quickly as possible to close the window of opportunity.
Get it to the right people. Both retailers and security companies will often have many different departments. It is therefore important that when sending information that you ensure that it goes to the right person. For example if you are passing information about crime that is taking place in the alcohol section of a store, then this is department it should be going to, not the clothing department. Many of us know that if we see an email or letter that does not concern us we quickly get rid of it. This means that the efforts of passing the information on have now been in vain.
Do your bit too. Many people are more than happy to receive this information; however they do not pass on information they come across. This is usually not due to any malicious thought but usually the fact that they haven’t got time. However the fact is that if you pass on information yourself you are more likely to receive information back
The other alternative to round robin emails is by using a structured system that allows the information to be shared fairly and evenly. MJ RSC adds that it offers a free information sharing facility to retailers and security industry staff. For more information go to –
