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You can’t wait for Policing to change: Empower your retail business to combat crime now
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Recent data from Sky News reveals more data around the troubling surge in retail crime, with shoplifting, violence, and abuse becoming increasingly pervasive. According to the article, shoplifting incidents in the UK have doubled in the past year, costing businesses millions.
Retail crime on the rise:
Key figures from the report highlight the growing challenge:
The British Retail Consortium recorded 7.9 million incidents of theft in the past year.
Theft accounts for an estimated £800 million in losses annually, a figure that continues to rise.
Retailers also face a staggering 27% increase in violent or abusive incidents, creating a heightened risk for employees.
These alarming statistics paint a dire picture for the retail industry, emphasising the urgent need for effective solutions to deter crime and safeguard staff and assets.
This is not a quick fix.
Compounding this issue is the lack of policing resources, which leaves many incidents under-investigated or unaddressed.
The Labour government has pledged an additional 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers by 2029. Sir Keir Starmer has also promised a “named, contactable police officer” in every neighbourhood and an axing of the 2014 law that means “low value” thefts of under £200 are subject to less serious punishments.
Retailers cannot afford to wait for systemic changes in law enforcement resources. Instead, they must take immediate action to safeguard their businesses, employees, and customers – you can be up and running with our platform in a matter of weeks.
The role Zinc’s retail incident & investigation platform
Given the significant shortfall in policing resources, capturing and organising comprehensive incident data is more critical than ever.
Our incident and investigation platform offers a complete system designed to streamline reporting, managing, investigating and analysing incidents – and importantly packaging evidence for law enforcement. This proactive approach enables retailers to fill the gap left by stretched police forces and ensure crimes are prosecuted more effectively.
Key Features and benefits
1. Incident Reporting
With police forces increasingly overburdened, accurate and detailed reporting is essential. Our platform ensures all incidents are logged with precision, capturing every detail to create a complete picture:
Accurate timeline of events: Maintain chronological records of the incident(s) for clarity and accountability.
Detailed notes: Include descriptions of incidents, staff observations, and any additional relevant information.
Product and stock loss tracking: Document actual theft values and the targeted products – helping quantify financial impact and support restitution claims.
2. User-friendly design for staff adoption
A key element of our platform is its ease of use, ensuring staff at all levels can confidently report incidents without extensive training:
Mobile app with online/offline capability: Staff can log incidents anytime, even in areas with poor connectivity, ensuring no delay in capturing crucial details.
Step-by-step wizard with hints and tips: A guided interface simplifies the reporting process, with prompts to ensure all critical details are captured.
Quality scoring and feedback: Built-in quality checks help staff improve the accuracy and completeness of reports, ensuring high standards of evidence collection.
Single sign-on (SSO) access: Quick and secure access to the platform without cumbersome login processes.
3. Evidence collection
Robust evidence-gathering tools enable retailers to compile and organise critical information, making it easier for under-resourced police to act:
CCTV and body camera footage: Integrate and upload visual evidence directly into reports, reducing investigative workload.
Witness statements: Generate formal statements that comply with police standards (MG11), ensuring legal admissibility.
Offender profiles: Capture identifying details, including physical characteristics, clothing, race, and accent, alongside any available images or videos.
Transcribed offender statements: Capture threatening language and other verbal evidence, critical for establishing intent.
Weapons used: Document any items involved in threats or violence, a key factor in determining case priority.
Victim support documentation: Log psychological and physical injuries and outline the support provided to staff – a crucial element in cases involving violence.
Actionable tasks: Track completed steps, from incident logging to case closure, ensuring no detail is overlooked.
3. Incident context and linkages
Identify connections to provide law enforcement with a comprehensive case, our platform can then do the heavy lifting to identify trends. Given the resource constraints in policing, this holistic approach is invaluable:
Related incidents: Highlight repeat offenders or linked cases within the same region.
Vehicle details and direction of travel: Record transportation methods used by offenders to assist in tracking.
Linked people: Either confirmed, unconfirmed or tentatively linked people – distraction techniques are very common and most likely a group of people working together.
Organised crime groups / gangs: Identify if this group is targeting other stores of yours or in the area by building a network – joining partnerships like the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS) will aide the sharing of intelligence.
4. Seamless collaboration with Law Enforcement
By packaging all necessary information in a single, accessible platform, we help bridge the gap between retailers and under-resourced police departments:
Police crime reference details: Ensure records align with law enforcement systems, expediting case handling.
OPAL & Project Pegasus: Share details with OPAL and Project Pegasus to enable the effective identification of prolific offender groups – a specialist Police team of analysts.
Why retailers must ACT NOW
The importance of acting now cannot be overstated. Retailers must take proactive measures to package and present evidence effectively, ensuring that law enforcement can take swift and decisive action – help them to do their job effectively! By proactively capturing and organising comprehensive data, retailers not only deter potential offenders but also enable police to act effectively despite resource limitations.
As retail crime continues to escalate, the cost of inaction grows exponentially. Beyond financial losses, the safety and well-being of staff and customers are at stake. The data shows that this issue is not abating – it is intensifying.
Our incident and investigation platform delivers the tools needed to not only document and analyse incidents but also package evidence so thoroughly that helps “doing the police’s job”. By providing complete, actionable cases, retailers can play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between incident and prosecution.
Together, we can address this urgent issue and create safer spaces for businesses, staff, and customers alike. With the right tools, retailers can turn the tide against crime and ensure justice is served.
+44 (0)20 3989 4859 
info@zinc.systems 