Many thanks to those attended the Business Against Crime meeting on 15 September 2020.
Minutes and Actions from the last meeting
· Defibrilator locations taken by Street Rangers, being reviewed and added to by the council for a formal list. (ACTION)
· Positive press release by Southend BID, Police and Community Safety delayed due to change in priorities with the pandemic.
BID Crime and Safety Updates
· Lockdown: Street Rangers continued 7 day a week patrols supporting those that stayed open (assisted with recovery of circa £3k of stolen goods) and watched over temporarily closed businesses (5 instances where key holders were alerted to a disturbance at their premises).
· Lockdown easing: assisted with briefings of the Welcome Hosts in the town and supported them throughout the day, distributed stickers and posters to help with re-opening to businesses that wanted them, and assisted premises with any queue issues.
· June-August stats: 422 visitor enquiries, 217 retail crime assists, 164 ASB incidents, 45.3% recovery of stolen goods (circa £2.8k). Decline on all stats versus same period last year as post lockdown footfall still not at same level.
Police Update
· Unfortunately a representative was unable to attend and will follow up with further updates and stats (ACTION) however for the meeting the following were provided for June - August:
· 32 incidents of ASB (this includes COVID breaches) withing the High Street and surrounding areas.
· 358 investigations in total of crimes recorded within the high street including:
-105 theft offences
-50 public order offences
-20 damage offences
Essex Police Business Crime Unit (BCU) Update
· BCU role is to communicate and engage with businesses, share best practises, communicate crime prevention measures and support local police.
· Currently working on a project to deal with prolific shop lifters by making the CBOs (Criminal Behaviour Order) easier to put in place by creating a pack that can be used to speed up the process and ensure all necessary elements are covered.
· Assisting towns around Essex with their DISC system, Southend's version is used as a best practise example.
· There is a national campaign centred around business crime which will launch in time for the Small Business Saturday dates in Southend.
· Creation of a Crime prevention booklet to help businesses. Feedback to be given by BID Manager and by businesses once distributed. (ACTION)
· Business reminded that they can report crimes online to make it quicker.
· Businesses to provide feedback about how the BCU can better serve them. (ACTION)·
Community Safety (CS) Team Update
· Reduction in ASB and most other stats throughout July and August in the high street area. This is because as lockdown eased the seafront required more resources as more visitors flocked to the area.
· Have however seen a rise in other incidents such as rough sleeping as lockdown eased which is to be expected.
Street Pastors Update
· Less patrols throughout lockdown as most volunteers were in the vulnerable age bracket.
· Patrols have now restarted with them occuring on Fridays from 9.30pm - 12am and more park coverage on Saturdays.
A.O.B
· Nothing to add
We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email hello@southendbid.com
Next meeting: Tuesday 24 November 2020, 6pm