Business Crime Partnerships Awareness Week

The national awareness week for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships highlights the vital role BCRPs play in supporting local communities, preventing business crime, and creating safer places to live, work, and socialise. The week offers a platform to showcase their holistic, collaborative approach and the impact of their work across the UK.

In Northamptonshire, we are very fortunate to have Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership (BCRP), a very successful, award-winning scheme, that operates countywide and has been recognised locally and nationally as a leading example of successful partnership working. 

Over many years, partnerships have been forged with Northamptonshire Police, the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC), retailers, local councils and across the business sector, which have resulted in increased detection rates, improved confidence and created safer environments for retailers, workers and visitors to the towns in the county.   

Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership have been national pioneers in their employment of evidence gatherers, to support retailers and police in the gathering of evidence against the most prolific and violent offenders, causing the most harm in our communities. The funding for the two evidence gatherers is provided by the OPFCC, and it is recognised that offenders are twice as likely to be charged with shop theft in Northamptonshire than many other areas across the country. 

The Northamptonshire Police Retail Crime Team and the Business Crime Partnership work seamlessly together to identify offenders, gather evidence and place prolific and violent offenders before the court, often being charged with multiple offences. 

The BCRP is a very small team managed by three, incredibly committed staff and two evidence gatherers, together they work to support retailers and businesses in the relentless battle against shop theft and anti-social behaviour (ASB).  

There are more than 700 retailers and businesses that are already members of either the retail crime or ASB reporting schemes. Retailers across Northamptonshire are being encouraged to join the county’s business crime partnership as a National BCRP Awareness week begins on Monday, March 16.

Thanks to this partnership, Northamptonshire Police has seen its detection rate for shop theft rise to 31 per cent, the fifth highest in the country. There was a 16 per cent increase in reported thefts to police, but this was matched by the detection rate resulting in more offenders than ever, being charged and dealt with by the courts.

Reflecting their successes, the NBCP and the force’s Retail Crime Team, were jointly given the Northamptonshire Police, Excellence in Policing ‘Team of the Year’ award in 2024.

In 2025 and 2026 the continued hard work of Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership and Northamptonshire Police has attracted the attention of the national media, with articles featuring some of their successes in the Financial Times, The Sunday Times, BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight and featured on BBC The One Show.

Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership has also been shortlisted a National Association of Business Crime Partnerships annual award in the ‘Outstanding Community Safety and Night Time Economy Initiative’, for work over many years in Northampton Town Centre around Anti-Social Behaviour with Northampton Town BID in the management of Northampton Town ASB Reporting Scheme (NTARS). The winners will be announced during the BCRP Awareness Week.

Crime Manager Alison Farr said: “We’re very pleased to support the second national awareness week, spreading the word about the work of our Business Crime Partnership, which is often hidden behind the headlines. We’d encourage all retailers to become members so we can help you and work together to reduce offending, keep staff safe and bring offenders that cause the most harm, to justice.

“Our message to any retailer who isn’t yet a member is to get in touch so we can show you the benefits that working together can bring to your business.”

Inspector Adam Morrow, who manages the Northamptonshire Police Retail Crime Team, added: “The NBCP is an invaluable partner, who provide valuable support to our investigations. The ever-improving relationships with retailers help raise the Force’s detection rate and our reporting rate, reflecting greater public confidence to help us continually improve our support to businesses and stores.”

Additional information:

The not-for-profit NBCP runs all the retail crime initiatives across the country, with member businesses benefitting from an app called DISC which offers quick and easy reporting to police, alerts to help staff recognise prolific and violent offenders, and support to reduce and detect theft and increase staff and customer safety.

The NBCP also runs four ASB reporting platforms across different towns in the county. 

Email the NBCP on [email protected]