Foiling the light-fingered

Business crime reduction is one of the sectors where two-way radios have a big role to play. Sam Fenwick explores the trends, such as the role of BIDs and the use of new technology

Shopwatch and Pubwatch two-way radio schemes have long been a permanent fixture in many town and city centres. Through relaying descriptions and intelligence of local petty criminals (often from a CCTV centre or police officer) over the air, they allow their members to exclude shop-lifters and trouble-makers from their stores.

While at first glance these schemes may seem to be relatively straight-forward from a two-way radio dealer’s perspective, the business crime reduction sector has been seeing a fair bit of change, prompted by the rise of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in many town centres.

According to the government, a BID “is a defined area in which a levy is charged on all business rate payers in addition to the business rates bill. This levy is used to develop projects which will benefit businesses in the local area”, such as extra safety/security, cleansing and environmental measures. Since April 2013, BIDs have been allowed to operate across local authority boundaries.