SBCP win Outstanding Partnership award

In June we won the ‘Outstanding Partnership’ award at the Town & City Management Industry Awards 2022.

The award, presented by the Association of Town & City Management (ATCM), was given to us in recognition of our Southampton Business Crime Partnership (SBCP).

The SBCP launched in 2020 to bring the daytime and night-time economies, the police, the council and other key partners together to share crime intelligence and build resilience against crime and anti-social behaviour across the city.

Over 140 businesses have joined our radio scheme, which connects them to our security team as well as Citywatch CCTV and the police, whilst 261 members are registered to our DISC online crime reporting portal. We record an average of 200 incidents a month of which, over the past 12 months, 678 were reported to police.

Over£240,000 worth of stolen goods recovered since 2020

Since the SBCP launched, our security team, along with our BID members, have recovered over £240,000 worth of stolen goods. In 2022 £158,000 worth of goods was recovered with £96,000 of this retrieved by our security team alone.

Our team also detained 231 people on suspicion of theft in 2022 and made over 270 visits to stores to assist with incidents.

#ShopKind

Throughout the Christmas period, our team delivered over 350 posters and strut cards in support of the national #ShopKind campaign for businesses to display in their stores. The campaign aims to encourage visitors to act with patience and kindness and helps tackle the abuse faced by shopworkers over the festive season.