Cheshire Police, led by its crime prevention team, has been working with partner organizations across the county and local businesses to support National Month of Action in the fight against anti-social behavior and shoplifting.
As part of these efforts, a number of Safer Business Action (SaBA) Days were held.
These are collaborative approaches by police, businesses, private security companies, Corporate Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP) and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). They focus on engaging businesses, raising awareness, providing advice, showing businesses how to upload digital evidence of business crime to online platforms, and asking people to complete business crime surveys .
Throughout March, SaBA Days were held in various locations across Cheshire including Congleton, Nantwich, Chester, Northwich, Ellesmere Port and Warrington.
In addition to this, there has been increased police presence and increased patrols across the county, with the aim of stopping anti-social behavior and shoplifting within Cheshire businesses.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police Crime Prevention Team said: “We hope that SaBA Days throughout March were well received and useful for our partners and businesses.”
“This collaboration between police and the business community is key to fostering a partnership approach in tackling all aspects of corporate crime. This is not something we can tackle alone, we all need to work together.
“We are also encouraging retailers to encourage positive behavior in their stores, recognize the important role of store employees, and support our ShopKind campaign to raise awareness about the scale and impact of violence and abuse against employees. We continue to encourage participation.”
Supt Patrick Holdaway, head of the NBCC (National Corporate Crime Centre), said:
“They have been very active throughout this month, hosting several SaBA Days and building long-term relationships with retailers and other businesses in the community.
“We understand the challenges our business community faces every day and how we can tackle crime in terms of prevention and ensuring that police have the best possible evidence to investigate and bring criminals to justice. It is very important to understand how we can work together better.
“SaBA Day is a great way to strengthen and build on the work already being carried out by Cheshire Police and other police forces across the country.”