Section 1
Business Crime Reduction Partnerships
What is a BCRP?
A Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) is a partnership-based approach to preventing crime and disorder. It is a subscription based, business-led, action group working with police and the local authority to tackle and reduce crime and disorder affecting businesses and the wider community.
In 2018 the National Business Crime Centre introduced a set of Business Crime Reduction Partnership standards; these were updated in October 2019. These standards provide a single reference for “what good partnership working looks like” in order to give reassurance to business members, police and other stakeholders on how to operate a BCRP.
What does a BCRP do?
Through BCRPs, businesses can work more effectively with police, the local authority and other businesses to create a safe and stable business environment. This includes working together to prevent repeat offenders from targeting businesses. For example, many BCRPs run an exclusion scheme based on the law of trespass, collectively excluding individuals from member premises.
BCRPs operate to make towns, cities and communities safer by:
- Collating intelligence on known troublemakers.
- Excluding from private premises on a ‘banned from one banned from all’ basis.
- Working with local police to enforce those exclusions and prevent further offences.
- Assist with the rehabilitation of offenders.
- Deliver local crime reduction initiatives
Most BCRPs offer a communications network via local radio schemes and additionally offer local data sharing services via online software enabling intelligence to be shared locally between businesses and police, supporting the immediate detection and prevention of crime. BCRPs tend to be managed by a dedicated business crime reduction partnership manager who is available for members to contact for guidance and support. The BCRP manager will have good local links with police and local authority.
What should you do?
If you would like to join a BCRP, it is important that you check the BCRP is accredited against the national standards to ensure their work is compliant with legislation and they work to appropriate policies and processes. You can check whether a BCRP is set up in your area by contacting the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP), the National Business Crime Solutions (NBCS) or Gov.uk.
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Information sharing |
Tackling and preventing crime |
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Intelligence coordination - retailers can easily report everything to their crime partnership directly. Crime managers collate intelligence and distribute to the partnership and business community Sharing information - to identify prolific offenders, help identify peak incident times, inform guarding strategies and identify patterns of offending Secure data being shared - businesses have access to real-time data, DISC secure messaging and slower-time preventative data to familiarise themselves with prolific offenders Links with national data on travelling offenders |
Exclusion policy (civil) - lists of all offenders banned from premises within the BCRP/local area. A breach of an exclusion policy can be used to show persistent levels of offending, it can also be used as evidence for criminal interventions like Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) Evidence for prosecution - engagement and assistance when providing victim and business impact statements Public protection - support the identification of vulnerable people and facilitating diversionary routes where necessary Crime prevention advice - alerting members to emerging threats or crime types and providing guidance on prevention |
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Access and engagement |
Training and upskilling |
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Regular communication between businesses and the BCRP, both in person and electronically via real-time messaging and regular crime bulletins Community element to BCRP membership - a feature of DISC includes links direct to the Local Authority for easier reporting. Provides a platform for businesses’ voices to be heard Links into local policing - ensuring businesses’ issues are acknowledged and providing updates on operational policing |
Feedback on outcomes - of incidents, breaches or prison releases to keep members up to date Sharing of lessons learnt - highlighting best practice amongst the business community Training for businesses - to increase resilience. Sessions often include: employee support, safeguarding, reporting, conflict management, gathering and presenting evidence |