Business Crime Survey 2017 Report Introduction The Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office (OPCC) as part of its work to promote a safer business community ran the 2017 Business Crime Survey 2017 (BCS17). The survey run in partnership with Safer Hampshire Business Partnership provided the business community of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with the opportunity to share its views on crime and disorder. We have based this consultation on a national approach combined with previous surveys run by the OPCC, in order to reflect on anything that may have changed for the business community. This survey supports the delivery of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s priorities within his Police and Crime Plan 2016 – 2021 and its vision for a SAFER policing area “to ensure that Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton are amongst the safest places to live, work and visit, and that people are empowered to realise their life opportunities”. It also demonstrates the Police and Crime Commissioner’s statutory duty to engage with and listen to the communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the findings1 of the 2017 Business Crime Survey. The aim of the survey was to understand the current views of the business community, to identify priorities and how these may have changed since our last survey was run in 2014. The recommendations of this report are:
That Hampshire Constabulary incorporates the findings of the survey in updates to their Business Crime Strategy
That further research and analysis should be commissioned and undertaken particularly with frontline business staff regarding perception of crime and violence. Research in this area should include focus groups and / or a combination of structured and unstructured interviews
That the Police and Crime Commissioner host networking events (Business Crime Summits) for the business community, to help raise awareness of new threats and crime prevention measures
A partnership approach to addressing business community priorities and finding solutions should continue to be developed and encouraged
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The raw survey data including charts and table is attached to this report under Appendix One
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Hampshire Constabulary in partnership with the business community should run campaigns which raise awareness of and means of tackling business crime
Fraud and cyber-crime2 campaigns should be supported and built upon to raise awareness of these threats and crime prevention measures so businesses can help protect themselves
Findings of the survey are shared with members of the business community who did not take part in the survey
The findings of the survey are shared with partners
Key findings
The majority of respondents who completed the survey were business owners (n141 / 62.4%) whilst the overall majority of respondents represented micro sized businesses of up to 9 employees (n125 / 55.3%). The single largest issue to impact the majority of businesses in the last 12 months was anti-social behaviour (e.g. rowdiness and groups hanging around) (n56 / 34.5%) which led to wasted staff time (n76 / 50.6%) The majority of businesses stated they had not been a repeat victim of either crime / ASB (n102 / 63.7%) in the last 12 months. The majority of businesses which had either been a victim of crime or experienced some form of ASB in the last 12 months did not report every incident to the police (n94 / 60.2%). A waste of time, lack of evidence and the police either failing to turn up or failing to investigate were the most common reasons provided by respondents who chose not to report every incident to the police. A larger percentage of employees (n20 / 34.5%) compared to business owners (n22 / 21.4%) felt that compared with the previous 12 months that there was a lot more crime in their business neighbourhood. In the last 12 months the majority of businesses had experienced being victims of “phishing” (cyber) attacks (n47 / 36.7%). The majority of business expected that in the coming 12 months their businesses are most likely to be affected by “phishing” (cyber) attacks (n56 / 37.5%). The majority of business felt that business crime was “not very important” to Hampshire Constabulary (n43 / 29.2%). A lack of police presence, response or feedback from the police were some the reasons provided. The majority of respondents felt that Hampshire Constabulary did a “fair” job to tackle retail crime (n53 / 41.7%). Increased staff training (n74 / 51.0%), added or upgraded CCTV (n65 / 44.8%) and improved physical security measures (n56 / 38.6%) were the top 2
A glossary is attached to this report under Appendix Two
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three measures taken by businesses in the last 12 months to help reduce the likelihood of them becoming victims of crime. Cost was singled out as an issue which prevented a minority of businesses from undertaking any measures to protect themselves. Cyber-crime (n41 / 64.0%), burglary (n27 / 45.0%) and criminal damage (n35 / 52.2%) were identified as the top three risks facing the majority of respondents however the cyber-crime (n38 / 66.6%) and fraud (n33 / 54.1%) were identified by the majority as being the two most significant risks likely to affect their businesses in the coming two years. The police were the preferred source of crime prevention advice for the majority of respondents (n34 / 24.5%). Over a fifth (n29 / 20.9%) of all respondents had never sought any form of crime prevention advice.
Findings Experience of crime
The top three types of crimes or Anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues experienced by businesses in the last 12 months by respondents were 3: ASB (rowdiness, groups hanging around), criminal damage and threatening behaviour compared with: criminal damage, burglary / attempted burglary and customer theft which were identified as the top three in the 2014 survey. Breaking down the responses by business owners and employees indicated a difference in responses to crimes and incidents experienced. The top three types of crimes or ASB issues identified by business owners were: burglary / attempted burglary, ASB (rowdiness, groups hanging around and criminal damage4) whilst employees identified the following top three crimes / ASB issues – ASB (rowdiness, groups hanging around), ASB related drunkenness and customer theft. The response of employees may be based on their first hand experiences at the front facing end of the business compared with business owners. Cybercrime, theft (including customer, employee and vehicle) and ASB (all forms of) were highlighted as the issues which caused respondents the most concern5, these are highlighted in the Word Cloud below6.
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As this is a multiple choice question, the analysis of responses of this question is based on the actual number of individuals who responded to each option rather than the %’s. 4 The third most popular response was “none”, the next most popular response has been used for the purposes of this report 5 See appendix One 6 Word Clouds - Is an image composed of words used in a particular text or subject, in which the size of each word indicates its frequency or level of importance
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What causes you the most concern and why?
All respondents identified a waste of time, lowered staff morale and financial loss (both loss of stock / assets and cost of repairs) as the top three impacts felt by their business as a result of experiencing a crime or ASB incident7. Compared with waste of time, disrupted trading and lowered staff morale which were identified as the top three impacts from the 2014 survey. Consistently a waste of time, lowered staff morale and some form of financial loss were highlighted as having the biggest impacts on a business following a crime or ASB incident. Nearly two thirds of all respondents (n102 / 63.8%) stated that their business had not been a victim of a repeat8 crime or ASB incident in the last 12 months, however a larger percentage of employees stated that their business had been a repeat victims compared with business owners. This difference in response may be because employees are more likely to be found in front facing roles within businesses and are likely to witness more crime and incidents of ASB compared with owners.
Crime / ASB levels
Compared with 12 months ago, 36.7% (n56) of all respondents felt that crime levels in their local neighbourhood had remained the same, this figure is lower than in 2014 when 42.4% (n114) of respondents felt that crime levels had remained the same. A larger percentage of respondents (n81 / 50.3%) felt that crime levels had either increased a little more or a lot more in their business neighbourhood compared with the previous 12 months, this is considerably higher when compared with the 2014 survey results, where the figure stood at 18.3% (n31). A larger percentage of employees9 than business owners felt that crime levels had increased either a little more or a lot more. ASB levels in local business neighbourhoods had remained the same for 34.8% (n56) of all respondents compared with 12 months ago, this figure is lower than the 2014 survey results, when 41.0% (n114) felt ASB levels had remained the same. 7
For multiple choice questions, analysis is based on the actual number of people who chose each option rather than the percentage who chose that option. 8 By repeat we mean have you been a victim on five or more occasions within the last 12 months 9 Employees: n37 / 63.8%, business owners: n44 / 42.8%
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54.7% (n74) of respondents felt ASB levels had increased either a little more or a lot more in their local business neighbourhood compared with the previous 12 months, this figure is considerably higher than the 2014 survey results where, 17.3% (n48) of respondents. Similar to crime levels, a larger percentage of employees10 felt that the level of ASB had increased a little more or a lot more in their local business neighbourhood compared with business owners. The views of employees may differ from business owners because they are in front facing roles and more likely to experience and witness incidents taking place. The majority of respondents (n101 / 63.1%) had not experienced any changes or emerging trends with regard to products targeted or methods used by criminals. Breaking the results down further, a larger percentage of business owners hadn’t experienced any changes compared with employees. Nearly two thirds of all respondents (n94 / 60%) stated they had not notified the police of every crime their business had experienced in the last 12 months, compared with just under a third (n37 / 26.6%) of all respondents in 2014. The most common reason provided to explain this are summarised and include the following: it was a waste of time, a lack of evidence, the police either fail to turn up or fail to investigate the crime. “Broadly the same percentage of both business owners and employees failed to notify the police of every crime�. Unsurprisingly a higher number of employees identified as either experiencing physical violence or abusive / aggressive behaviour in 2016 / 17 compared with business owners, this is most likely to be because employees are more likely to be found in front facing roles within businesses.
Fraud / Cyber Crime
The top three types11 of cyber enabled attacks which businesses have experienced in the last 12 months were, phishing (a method of accessing valuable personal details, such as usernames and passwords, often through bogus communications such as emails, letters, instant messages or text messages), malware (a program or malicious software that consists of programming, for example code or scripts, designed to disrupt the performance of PCs, laptops, handheld devices, etc) and pharming / spoofing (a method of deceiving an individual into ending up at a fake website, even though the correct URL has been entered / masquerading as another individual or entity by falsifying data, thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage). Phishing, malware and pharming attacks were most frequently chosen options by both business owners and employees12. Phishing, malware and ransomware attacks were identified by all respondents as the top three risks which they believed their businesses were
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Employees: n36 / 62.7%, business owners: n38 / 36.9% Based on actual number of responses rather than percentages. 12 69 respondents were unable to answer this question as they were unaware. 11
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at risk of in the coming 12 months13. Both business owners and employees identified phishing and malware as within their top three risks but differed on the final risk. Business owners identified theft of data whilst employees identified ransomware. Over three quarters of all respondents (n118 / 75.6%), stated that their businesses had not experienced any increase in fraud in the last 12 months. However a larger percentage of employees (n21 / 38.2%) felt fraud levels had increased compared with business owners, as before this may be due to employees being in frontline positions and roles.
Police contact
In the last 12 months the majority of respondents (n78 / 53.4%) stated that they had had some form of contact with the police, employees had more contact with the police than business owners. The most frequent reasons stated for coming into contact with the police were:   
To report a crime Through the course on an ongoing criminal investigation Through local events and visits. In the area that your business is based, in the last 12 months has your business had any contact with the police?
Nearly two fifths of all respondents (n57 / 38.7%) felt business crime was either important or very important to Hampshire Constabulary, this is lower than the 41.0% of respondents who stated this in the 2014 survey. A slightly higher percentage14 of business owners compared with employees felt business crime was either important or very important to Hampshire Constabulary. Comparing the results of the 2017 survey versus the 2014 survey indicates that the percentage of respondents who feel that business crime is either not at all important or not very important to Hampshire Constabulary has increased from 22.6% to 45.6%. Over 50%15 of employees felt that business crime was either not at all important or not very important to Hampshire Constabulary compared with of business owners.
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Based on actual number of responses rather than percentages. Business owners: n37 / 39.4% 15 Employees: n40 / 56.7%, business owners: n37 / 39.3% 14
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When respondents were asked to explain why they had provided the response which they did, the most popular reasons have been grouped together and are shown below:
A lack of police resources or presence Slow, poor or no response Lack of evidence to support investigations Business crime is not a priority, the police have more important priorities The police are visible and do investigate business crime The police need support Perception that businesses can absorb costs No feedback from the police Lack of business crime profile
In terms of the time it took for Hampshire Constabulary to answer a 101 or 999 call, the majority of respondents felt that it was either very good or good, with a higher percentage of employees who thought it was very good for 101 calls whilst a higher percentage of business owners felt it was very good for 999 call. Hampshire Constabulary answered 90.9% of 999 calls within 10 seconds at the end of March 201816. A quarter (n30 / 30.3%) of all respondents felt that Hampshire Constabulary’s response in terms of what they did following a 101 call was fair whilst 33.3% (n16) of respondents felt Hampshire Constabulary’s response (in terms of what they did following a 999 call) was also fair. A higher percentage of business owners than employees felt Hampshire Constabulary’s response was either very good or good to 101 calls, similarly a higher percentage of business owners felt that the response to 999 calls was either very good or good. In response to tackling retail crime, 41.7% (n53) of all respondents felt that Hampshire Constabulary did a fair job. A larger percentage of business owners compared to employees felt Hampshire Constabulary did a fair job. Just over a quarter (n35 / 27.5%) of all respondents felt that Hampshire Constabulary did either a good or very good job to tackle retail crime, breaking down the responses by business owners and employees shows that a larger percentage17 of business owners felt Hampshire Constabulary did either a good or very good job compared to employees. Conversely a larger percentage (n48 / 48.0%) of employees felt that Hampshire Constabulary either did a poor or very poor job compared with business owners (n15 / 19.5%).
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Source – March 2018 Hampshire Constabulary Performance Profile Business owners: n21 / 24.7%, employees: n13 / 20.0%
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The following reasons (which have been grouped together) were provided by respondents as to why they responded as they did
A lack of police interest Retail crime is not a police priority The police are over stretched and lack resources Always reporting the same offenders to the police Lack of follow up Police are very responsive Investigations not being pursued despite evidence No response to low level crime Police culture towards retail crime Unable to respond as not a retailer
Priorities
Cyber-crime, burglary and criminal damage were identified by all respondents as the top three risks which their industry faced, however the identified risks of business owners and employees did differ. Business owners felt that the top three risks were cyber-crime, burglary and fraud whilst employees felt customer theft, violence and abuse against staff and criminal damage were the top risks to their industry. Interestingly the risks identified by employees are more visible than those highlighted by business owners. Cyber-crime and fraud were identified by all respondents as the top two biggest threats to their business in the coming two years. Whilst business owners also listed these two threats, employee’s top two threats were customer theft and burglary. The British Retail Consortium annual survey highlighted customer theft and fraud as the top two threats in 2015 and in 2016, cyber-crime and fraud / violence against staff (joint second) were highlighted as the top two threats.
Crime prevention
Increased staff training, added or updated CCTV and improved physical security were identified as the top three crime prevention measures taken by all respondents in the last 12 months to reduce the likelihood of their business becoming a victim of crime18. Both business owners and employees listed the three measures within their top three crime prevention measures alongside improved IT/ Cyber security (identified by business owners) and employed or contracted specialist security staff and joining a BCRP (identified by employees)
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Based on actual number of responses rather than percentages.
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Below are the reasons why (grouped together) provided by respondents who had stated they had not taken any crime prevention measures in the last 12 months to reduce the likelihood of their business becoming a victim of crime.
The cost involved vs perceived risk Already had security measures in place Security is the responsibility of the landlord Not approved by Head Office In the process of installing new security
Just under a quarter (n34 / 24.5%) of all respondents stated they received their crime prevention advice from the police, followed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and local Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP’s). Just over a fifth of all respondents (n29 / 20.9%) never sought any crime prevention advice. The most frequently identified sources from which all respondents preferred to receive crime prevention advice were:
Hampshire Constabulary / Crime Prevention Officer BCRP’s FSB’s Chamber of Commerce Parent Company Industry The internet Who do you trust and prefer to receive crime prevention advice from?
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About the participants The majority of those who completed the survey were business owners who accounted for nearly two thirds (n141 / 62.4%) of all respondents, the remaining respondents identified themselves as employees (n85 / 37.6%). The majority of respondents completing the survey represented micro sized businesses of up to 9 employees (n125 / 55.3%), a higher number of respondents identified themselves as representing micro sized businesses in the 2014 BCS. Comparing the responses of business owners and employees separately indicates, a larger number of business owners represented micro sized businesses compared with employees whilst a larger number of employees represented macro sized businesses (250+ employees) compared with business owners. When respondents were asked where they had received the link to this survey from, the most popular responses are shown in the Word Cloud19 below:
Respondents were asked to provide their post codes to enable the coverage of the survey to be measured, the most popular postcodes are shown in the Word Cloud below:
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Methodology The 2014 Business Crime Survey (BCS14) was used as a template to create the BCS17 which was updated with new questions to reflect the new emerging threats to businesses such as cyber - crime. The BCS17 was jointly created with input from officers from Hampshire Constabulary, the Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership and OPCC. The BCS17 was launched as an online survey on the 01st September 2017 and ran for three months until the 30th November 2017, this mirrored exactly what happened in 2014 when last the survey was run. The finalised BCS17 was sent to the organisations and groups listed below and with the specific request that it be disseminate amongst their networks and business contacts: The survey was sent to:
Federation of Small Businesses The Chamber of Commerce (within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) Local Enterprise Partnerships Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership Southampton Business Crime Reduction Partnership Business Improvement Districts (within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) Members of the Safer Hampshire Business Partnership Hampshire Alerts20
The survey was also prominently displayed on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s website. The analysis of the BCS17 results for all data is broken down as, all respondents (represented as “All Responses 2017”), responses by owners (represented as “Owners”) and responses by employees (represented as “Employees”). The survey data and accompanying charts and Word Clouds can be found with in Appendix One, attached to this report. Where it has been possible to compare the results of this survey with others this has been done so. The survey has been compared with the 2014 Business Crime survey (this is represented as “BCS14”) and the national British Retail Consortium survey for 2015 & 2016 (represented as “BRC).
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Hampshire Alerts is a platform which allows the public receive messages of information, crime alerts and witness appeals local to their area in which they live or work in a way that suits their needs and lifestyle by email, text or telephone. https://www.hampshirealert.co.uk/pages/2736/1/Home.html
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To be aware of Only 226 people accessed and completed some part of the survey compared with 288 people who took part in the 2014 survey. Due to the low number of respondents, the results of the survey are not statistically significant as the sample size is not robust enough and therefore no firm conclusions can be drawn from them. However inferences from the survey results can be drawn to help support the development of policies and strategies. Business owners who accounted for nearly two thirds of all responses, this naturally skews results of the survey towards owner’s views and priorities rather than those of employees. The responses of employees differ considerably to those of business owners, this may be because a majority of employees are in frontline positions / roles and have first-hand experience of crime and disorder compared with business owners. Due to the low number of respondents, the analysis of responses to all multiple choice questions within the survey is shown as actual number of responses rather than percentages, to prevent the skewing of results based on percentages.
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