Here are the crime stats…

We never like to think the worst can happen. We see crime and incidents occur all around us but we still listen to that little voice – ‘It’ll never happen to me.’

What if theft, criminal damage or violence became a reality for your business? Do you have appropriate security measures in place to avoid the potential losses you’ll face?

Crime is causing damage and irreversible effects to millions of businesses across the UK. Here’s a shocking statistic…

In 2015, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) predicted there were over 2.5 million incidents of cybercrime. What’s more, UK businesses saw a 22% increase in cybercrime in the past year, costing businesses more than 1bn in losses.

The graph below represents the number of incidents across various crime categories during 2016. This data is drawn from over 10 million incidents across the UK. Criminal damage and arson alone saw 577,458 incidents in one year.

When businesses are affected by crime it can ultimately lead to its downfall. The aftereffects can result in loss of revenue, a damaged reputation, reduced production, dwindling staff, and eventually closure.

The sad fact is it’s usually small businesses that are hit the hardest, with hospitality, retail and agricultural industries being the most affected.

How can you fight crime?

• You need to understand what crime risks could affect your business in your area. To do that, you need to gain access to data that demonstrates past incidents.
• Consider the chance of something happening to your business, in terms of high, medium or low.
• Concentrate on the risks that are most likely to cause harm. Think about the measures you have in place and if they’re enough to control those risks.
• When you identify your crime risks and the things you need to do to control them, you can start putting these methods into action.

We don’t like to think anyone would want to cause damage to our business. But the unfortunate truth is incidents occur in the millions every year.

You can easily start bringing your crime risk down by applying the steps above. All you need is a little thought about your current business risks and the changes you can implement to prevent them.