Cost of business crime soars to £7,300 per hour for hard hit Staffordshire firms
The cost of business crime in Staffordshire is worth more than £7,300 an hour, the police and crime commissioner has revealed.
The financial impact of burglary, shoplifting, robbery, criminal damage, theft and other offences is hitting firms in Staffordshire, Matthew Ellis has said.
A new strategy to tackle business crime has been commissioned by Mr Ellis, spearheaded by his deputy Sue Arnold, who is a former president of Southern Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce.
He said: "Businesses are the lifeblood of local communities across Staffordshire. Companies can feel that crime against them is seen as victimless and that it is hard to get help if needed. I'm determined that businesses who are victims of crime will not be forgotten.
"I'm calling for a new approach that treats business crime more seriously."
Crime costs to businesses in the county has been valued at £7,327 an hour in theft, damage and consequential loss. The yearly cost to businesses is £64.1 million and accounts for 15.4 per cent of all recorded crime in Staffordshire. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, more than a third – 39 per cent – of businesses do not report crime to police.
The new strategy for dealing with business crime includes sharing information on offenders, encouraging the reporting of offences, training police control room staff to deal with business crime and offering support to victims.
Hednesford businesswoman Linda Whitehouse was forced to close her estate agents and property consultancy firms after coming under attack from cyber criminals, causing her to lose tens of thousands of pounds and lay off staff. Mrs Whitehouse, who ran Whitehouse Property Group and Uno Property from Market Street, has since launched an enterprise club.
