What Kind of Crimes Pose the Greatest Threat to Businesses in UK?

More than 0.6 million instances of crimes are committed against businesses of all size every year, and that’s just in England and Wales. According to official stats published in the 2021 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS), a whopping 38% of all businesses in retail and wholesale reported at least one or more instances of crimes committed against them.

Once again, this too is only based on crime information from England and Wales. Given how alarming these stats are, they cannot be ignored. It’s important that we take a closer look through similar findings to figure out the primary threats that commercial enterprises should be prepared to handle.

Theft

Theft at a place of business was the highest reported crime against businesses, as per the CVS 2021. These instances include all thieving acts committed by customers, visitors, employees and unknown parties.

Theft by an unknown party includes all instance of reported and confirmed theft where the thief/thieves were never identified or confirmed. Theft by a visitor would be an instance of theft where the thief was a stranger, but they were at least confirmed as being the thief, if not identified and arrested.

Theft is not a violent crime by definition and any act or attempted act of thievery that involves violence or potent threat would automatically be reported as an instance of burglary or robbery. Therefore, increasing surveillance at key points within the business premises has proven to be a successful measure for both deterring and catching thieves.

Burglaries and Robberies

Burglaries and robberies remained the second most common violent crime committed against businesses in UK, just as the year before. However, it should be noted that these are significantly more serious in terms of their impact on the victimized business, irrespective of whether the attempt succeeded or not. This is owed to the fact that the robberies will almost always have the potential to cause financial loss, serious injury and even death. Consider burglaries to be comparatively less violent versions of robberies.

Unlike theft, burglary and robbery are crimes that are committed with an intent to:

• Steal from the business.
• Injure or kill someone if they oppose the burglar’s interests in any manner.
• Damage any property belonging to the business to trespass and/or get away from the scene of crime.

Security surveillance with real time monitoring and mobile security patrols are the two best steps that any business can take to both discourage and foil burglary attempts made against them. The presence of trained security personnel is also just as effective in both deterring and managing instances of vandalism and physical assault at a place of business.

Threats

Threats and assaults are compiled as a single category of crime under Violence in the CVS, but the law in the UK defines them separately. Threats against businesses have the potential to become violent instances of crime, but only if the party attempts to or manages to follow through with their threat.

Threats on their own are not instances of violent crime, but credible and abusive threats of violence against a business or against anyone else within the premises of that business are crimes. The most common threat crimes reported in connection to businesses include threats of violence, vandalism, burglary, falsification, abuse, damaging exposure, blackmail, and more.

Abuse and Assault

Abuse and assault is the most common category of crime reported at commercial locations across the UK. Even verbal abuse can be considered as verbal assault, depending on what was said to whom, when, and under what circumstances. Unfortunately, physical assaults and altercations at a place of business are also quite common, often preceded by threats and abusive language.

These actions may not necessarily be conducted with intent to damage the business directly in all cases, but damages and injuries are common side effects in most cases. The presence of adequately trained and equipped security personnel will help with preventing and controlling instances of abuse and assault.

Note that most results published in the 2021 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) were collected from a timeframe when the pandemic and lockdowns were at their peak. Therefore, the stats shared are quite conservative in comparison to previous years. Crime rates against and within business entities, as well as in general have since increased exponentially across the UK.

It would not be an exaggeration to conclude that all businesses must consider upgrading their on-premises security measures soon, if they have not done so already. This should also be backed up by an emergency response plan and adequate training for employees, teaching them how to handle such situations.