A private security contractor and university criminologists are to partner on research into retail crime, including theft and violence against shop workers – what and where it’s happening and what might best curb it.
The contract company Mitie’s Global Security Operations (GSO) will provide University of Cambridge criminologists with access to anonymous crime data – such as thefts and incidents of violence against shop workers – on behalf of national retail customers, sharing information from UK stores. The research team will use this data on the number of security officers and technology at a store, to test if a change in the blend of on-site security staff and technology can reduce crime.
The research will also look at the impact of combinations of security solutions with other factors, such as time of day or store location. For example, this may include increasing the number of security officers in stores at time when thefts are more likely; or installing more CCTV cameras in sites with low foot-traffic. The researchers will seek to identify trends; and opportunities for Mitie to better support customers; and will publish the results to create an evidence-based approach to retail crime.
Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business Services at Mitie, pictured, said: “Once again we’re leading the industry with a unique security partnership to help fight crime across the UK. We’re very proud to be working with the University of Cambridge, which has one of the world’s leading institutes in criminology, to develop this data-driven approach to help us stay one step ahead of the criminals targeting our high streets. With retail crime and violence against shopworkers on the rise, this research will be key to keeping our customers, people and communities safe.”
Dr Matthew Bland, Lecturer in Evidence Based Policing, University of Cambridge, said: “The Institute of Criminology at Cambridge has a long history of working with crime fighting organisations all over the world, to develop the evidence about what works and what doesn’t in reducing harm. We are excited to be able to continue this work by testing innovations in retail security and look forward to sharing our findings with the wider Evidence-Based Policing community in due course”.
Recently, Mitie partnered with the charity Crimestoppers to share information on criminal behaviour gathered by businesses to support police investigations. Mitie and Crimestoppers last month reported on the key factors and trends driving retail crime and inviting people to anonymously share any information on crime in retail stores.
And Cambridge earlier this month published research that suggests that crime in 27 cities across 23 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East, including London – such as robberies and theft – dramatically reduced during the COVID-19 lock downs. Visit https://cam.ac.uk/stories/COVIDcrime.
