12 October 2022
Southampton’s Business Improvement District (BID) is joining forces with Hampshire Constabulary and other local partners for two Safer Business Action (SaBA) days this month.
On Thursday 20th and Friday 21st October, GO! Southampton, Hampshire Constabulary, local authority enforcement teams and private security companies along with other partners, will come together to tackle the key issues of business crime within the community.
The action days will be held from 8am-4pm and will make up part of a Safer Action Business Week (17th-24th October), organised by the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), to prevent, deter and raise awareness of crime in cities across the country.
In Southampton, the BID team will be joining forces with its partners to provide reassurance and prevention patrols across the city centre. It will be promoting the #ShopKind campaign, which encourages positive behaviour in shops, by offering out posters to its levy payers to display in their windows, and it will be engaging with the community to help tackle crime across the city.
An important week for the city, these SaBAs are part of GO! Southampton’s ongoing work, through its Southampton Business Crime Partnership, to create a safer working environment for Southampton’s businesses and a more attractive place for residents and visitors.
Stephen Manion, Executive Director at GO! Southampton said: “After the success of the first Safer Business Action Day in July, we were keen to bring partners together to deter and prevent crime and anti-social behaviour in the city centre. Creating a safe environment for our businesses to thrive play a key part of our programme of work.”
Inspector Charlie Ilderton from the Southampton Central Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “We are excited to be supporting the day of action, following the success of the last. Any form of violence towards shop workers must stop and we hope this sends a clear message to the public and those working in the retail industry that we are being proactive in order to achieve this.
“It is an example of our continued close working with the Southampton Business Crime Partnership, which we share information with to target those causing the most harm in the city centre.”
Superintendent Patrick Holdaway of the National Business Crime Centre said “Violence and abuse against shop workers is never acceptable. The National Business Crime Centre have been working in Southampton with key stakeholders in police, retail, security providers and the GO! Southampton BID to deliver a range of activity to support the National week of action and the Shopkind campaign to protect shop workers, and deter, disrupt and detain persistent and prolific offenders.”
GO! Southampton, Hampshire Constabulary, local authority enforcement teams, homeless outreach workers, City Centre CCTV and private security firm will take part on the day.
A joint approach by police, business, private security and BCRPs/BIDs, the Safer Business Action Days are designed to focus resources into a designated location to create a significant impact to reduce crime.
October’s Safer Business Action Days will follow one carried out in Southampton in July this year.
GO! Southampton is committed to ensuring Southampton is a safe place to work, live and visit, and this is just one of the initiatives the BID team have arranged to tackle crime in the area.
