Press Release

FSB launches Every Crime Every Time Campaign

17 January 2008

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), in partnership with the Coalition Against Crime, today launches a major new national campaign to increase reporting of crime against businesses. Thousands of businesses are being encouraged to keep a record of every crime they are a victim of, no matter how small, and to report it to the police.

The Every Crime Every Time Campaign aims to highlight the extent of crime against small businesses and the fact that it is grossly under-reported. Despite the fact that a fifth of all crime in the UK is committed against business, only one in eight incidents is reported, often because small business owners feel that crime committed against them is low down on the list of police priorities.

The FSB has long been calling for police forces’ record on tackling crime against business to be included in the assessment of their performance. The Every Crime Every Time Campaign will increase the pressure in this area and raise greater awareness of the damage that crime against business does to local communities.

David Croucher-Jones, FSB Home Affairs Chairman, said:

“It is mystifying that such a large proportion of crime in this country can go almost unnoticed.

“The Every Crime Every Time Campaign is an effort to make the voices of small business owners heard about the crime they are victims of and to get police forces and the Government to listen.

“Crime against business is often thought to be victimless. It’s not. The victims are the communities that small businesses sustain and small business owners themselves are facing a climate of constant intimidation and violence”

Anne Tate, Chief Executive of the Coalition Against Crime, said:

“Crime impacts upon a business in a number of ways, including the inability to meet customer deadlines, damaging profitability, wasting management time and affecting staff morale, to name but a few.

“We are looking for more information about the scale, nature and impact of crime upon businesses, so we can formulate a response to it.  Small businesses can help by taking part in this campaign, which will run for one year.

“By reporting every incident of crime, anti-social behaviour or verbal and physical abuse against staff, small business owners can help us to put more pressure on police forces to take crime against business seriously.”