Speakers from a range of organisations throughout the region, including the Police, the Rural Shops Alliance, the NFU and the Federation for Small Businesses attended along with more than 130 delegates from partner organisations around the East Midlands.
The main aim of the conference was to identify the main crime issues facing businesses and to agree regional action to address them.
Businesses in rural areas are often particularly at risk simply because of their isolation.
Pam Smith OBE, Chair of EMRAF, led the conference. She said:
“I am very pleased that we have been able to hold today’s conference, which is the first of its kind in the country, to highlight the issue of rural business crime and share the real effects of good practice.
“Being the owner of a rural business myself, I know how important it is to take action to reduce crime, and I hope that today’s conference will help us work towards this.
“I am also very pleased that GOEM is making funding available to kick-start activity that is being taken forward by organisations in rural areas.”
EMRAF has received £6,000 from GOEM - £1,000 for each county in the region – so that work can begin straightaway.
Steve Brookes, Home Office Director at GOEM, opened the conference with an overview of business crime in the region and later summed up the day. He said:
“This has been a fantastic day. There has been lots of energy and commitment for joint working between regional organisations.
“Many actions have come out of today, but the main ones focused on:
- encouraging businesses to report crime;
- sharing crime data more effectively, and
- taking forward action based on practices already in place.”
David Rollo of Xera Logic, a Nottinghamshire printing and product support firm, presented the impact of business crime from the employer’s perspective. He said:
"The business watch scheme is the way forward for industrial estates. In Bingham we have turned a serious problem area back into a safe place to grow our company. Co-operation between the Police, local authorities and local business does produce results. Fighting crime is everyone's responsibility and the secret to defeating business crime is to focus on the 'business' as well as the 'crime'.”
