A place of greater safety – improving response to business crime in Staffordshire
Staffordshire Business Crime Strategy
Creating a place of greater safety for our business communities
In previous years, when it came to criminal activity there was very little support available for businesses. The common view the business community was often that the police treated this as a victimless crime – so it wasn’t, in consequence, seen as a priority.
In seeking to change this situation and address the underlying causes, Staffordshire Commissioner’s Office has devised a business crime strategy and has run a number of activities across the county to raise the profile of the issue and identify initiatives that focussed on early intervention and prevention as well as supporting victims and witnesses.
But while there have been several positive steps that have been made, it is felt more can be achieved by aligning initiatives together and working better together with key partners and the business community.
With this in mind Localis, in a study led by Dr Craig McCann, worked closely with Stoke and Staffordshire LEP and the Staffordshire Commissioner’s Office to produce a business crime strategy that will help the local economy thrive.
The purpose of this research project was to devise a practical strategy that would make Staffordshire a safe place for business and to ensure that any individual or business that does fall victim to criminal activity might readily access all available support.
Among our key areas of focus, Localis examined business crime as it relates to and impacts upon the following set of stakeholders and issues:
- SMEs and the business community
- Rural areas
- National and international organisations
- The role of the public sector
- Cybercrime
Research kindly sponsored by:
