Its new report finds that crimes against business cost £12.6 billion annually – an increase of 20% on the 2004 figure.
The report reveals that nearly a quarter of companies have had vehicles damaged; a fifth have been victims of vandalism and graffiti, and 19% have been burgled in the past 12 months.
The BCC has written to the Home Office calling on Government to tackle business crime head on by making it a police target. It wants the Association of Chief Police Officers to put this form of crime on the agenda by making it a key performance indicator for police officers. There is no obligation for the police to record business crime currently.
Business has a ‘worrying lack of confidence’ in the police, according to the report, which also finds that 85% of businesses believe that in order to cut business crimes, it is crucial to get the police engaged in the issue.
“This survey has laid bare the growing cost of business crime and exposed some fundamental flaws in the way it is handled by the police,” says BCC's director general, David Frost. “The absence of a national definition, from which police forces can record instances of criminal activity, is an issue that needs addressing."
