You are in:
Manchester processes 330% more intelligence on crime using NBIS
Cityco, Manchester’s city centre management company, has reported a 330% increase in the amount of intelligence and offender data collated since implementing NBIS (National Business Information System), the web-based data sharing technology from Hicom. As a result Cityco has identified 47 prolific and persistent offenders operating within Manchester and has excluded a further 39 individuals from the city centre in the last 12 months. Cityco’s NBIS system now holds information on over 3,000 offenders who are known to Cityco’s Business Crime Unit.
Cityco was established in 1996 and its Business Crime Unit, which is responsible for the delivery of the Business Crime Reduction Partnership, was founded in 1999. However, for many years criminal incident recording was very much a paper-based exercise. Having previously used the Business Crime Information System (BICS) from Hicom, Cityco upgraded to NBIS in May 2008 and now operates the central system from the Arndale shopping centre.
Hicom specialises in providing Crime Reduction and Risk Management software solutions to retailers and corporate business sectors. Hicom has in-depth experience of delivering flexible and scalable solutions specifically designed with an understanding of business crime. Through its long term association with the Business Information Crime System (BICS), Hicom has developed NBIS as an advanced concept of business crime management. The network conforms to information security standards for data integrity, confidentiality and availability and there are now over 70 towns, cities and shopping centres throughout the UK connected to either NBIS or BICS.
Discussing the initial drive to change the way that Cityco records incidents such as retail crime, criminal damage, threats and violence, Rob Dyson, Business Crime Manager for Cityco explains, “Prior to implementing NBIS, Manchester’s commercial sector and in particular retailers, were facing some tough challenges in terms of crime and repeat offenders. There had previously been a lack of any real deterrent within the city and we were without the resources to effectively manage repeat offenders and stop them going through the system cyclically.”
Dyson adds, “We identified that we needed a comprehensive system that could extract information on incidents and create offender profiles. Since implementing NBIS we have seen a 330% increase in the amount of offender data and intelligence collated. This huge increase is due to a focused use of the system at Cityco and the successful partnership that we have built with the local retailers, whose information we rely upon to populate the system. Using this information effectively and collating it within NBIS enables us to easily highlight the risks facing city centre businesses and put the correct measures in place to help prevent crime and protect local retailers.”
As part of a redevelopment of the crime reduction partnership in Manchester, Dyson has introduced secure access for key members of the partnership to populate the NBIS system with information. Dyson comments, “The data that NBIS produces is very clear and analytical, which enables us to gain a clear understanding of the challenges we are facing in the city and means we can provide evidence of these community issues to local authorities such as the Police. This has lead to the introduction of the Business Crime Exclusion scheme, which has so far identified 39 individuals who have now been excluded from Manchester city centre.”
Dyson explains, “The Business Crime Exclusion scheme uses the data produced by NBIS to identify the most persistent offenders to retailers, and gives them the support they need to ban these individuals from their premises. Anonymity is the key motivator with lifestyle criminals and the exclusion scheme legitimately removes this and builds confidence for store personnel to refuse entry and eject offenders.”
|
Dyson adds, “The Exclusion Scheme applies to all businesses that are members of the project and who display the appropriate exclusion signage in their entrances. Whilst the exclusion itself has no power in the judicial process; the CPS and Court services have agreed to the principles of the scheme and recognise crimes committed against member premises whilst on exclusion, as an aggravating feature of the initial crime.”
A key benefit of NBIS is its ability to securely share information between different crime reduction partnerships. 70 UK crime reduction partnerships are currently using NBIS, including Bolton and Oldham within the Greater Manchester area. Dyson says, “One of the key issues for all partnerships is managing data securely and disseminating it in a way that complies with the Data Protection Act. NBIS has been developed to ensure that data is secure at all times whilst recognising the clear need for partnerships to share information on particular individuals. Sharing data with other partnerships in the local area has already highlighted 58 offenders that were travelling between the three Greater Manchester sites and enables us to take a unified approach and pre-empt where criminals will target next.”
Cityco is also providing the senior supervision team at the Arndale Centre with direct access to NBIS, enabling staff to input incident and offender details directly into the system. Dyson says, “For Cityco, the extended users project is a fantastic addition to our resources. Providing the Arndale Centre with access to NBIS has produced considerable time and cost savings, as we no longer have to chase down paperwork which enables us to spend more time evaluating, verifying and acting on reports.”
Dyson continues, “We are currently in discussions with a number of different stakeholders throughout the city, to also provide them with access to NBIS. There are strong links between the university students and the city centre environment, and it will be great to roll out NBIS to help the university security teams effectively manage the campuses and the issues prevalent to them.”
Dyson concludes, “NBIS is an extremely valuable tool and I envisage that we will double the amount of data we currently have on crime incidents and offenders over the next 12 months. The in-depth reports that NBIS provides on individual premises, offender profiles, risks and threats to businesses enables us to manage crime throughout the city far more effectively. Through NBIS we are able to focus on the key risk areas in the city and ensure that businesses within the community and town centre are fully supported. Crime doesn’t stand still and we have to be evolutionary in our response to that and how we work as a partnership, both strategically, operationally and through the analysis of the data provided by NBIS.”
