5 things you need to know about London crime

Britain’s answer to the city that never sleeps, London is a magnet for tourists, students, shoppers, businesses and perhaps something less appealing – CCTV.

Did you know, London has around 7,000 public CCTV cameras in operation making it one of the most covered cities in the entire world? To give you a bit a comparison, Paris has just 236 equivalent cameras which illustrates either how crazy the city’s councils are, or how much you need to watch your back  – and with public spending being slashed left, right and centre, it’s hard to believe councils are being overprotective.

In order to get a better idea of the big picture, let’s take a look at some figures shall we?

The last 12 months has seen an increase in criminal cases by 1,731, the biggest jump being attributed to theft. Vandalism, breaking and entering and robbery are all topping the charts of most popular crime of 2014 and with the Mayor of London finally announcing the city’s first strategy to tackle business crime, it’s time to for you start taking action too.

Without further ado, here are 5 things you need to know about the crime happening in your city of London.

1. It’s avoidable – as with most corporate crime or crime against your business/property, simple yet highly effective measures can dramatically decrease the risks you are exposed to. A simple roll out of mobile and/or static officers could literally save you thousands in lost revenue due to unnecessary vandalism, theft or worse.
2. It’s affecting your business continuity – you have software that protects your confidential data, yet you aren’t physically guarding your property? You’re ASKING for trouble!
3. Your staff are at risk – crime doesn’t just happen outside the hours of 9-5. Criminals don’t care for your schedule so if a staff member is in the wrong place at the wrong time while an armed and dangerous John Doe is stealing expensive stock from your warehouse or property, it will end in disaster. And you will be liable.
4. You are viewed as a soft target – no security presence? Guess what message you are sending out to those vandals and opportunists that walk past your building every day? You’re saying “come and have a go, we’re not watching! Not even when it’s dark.”
5. Criminals are attracted to populated areas – London’s metropolitan area has a population of over 13.5 million and this accounts for more than 12% of the UK’s entire population. Where there’s footfall there’s crime and in this case, there’s a whole lot of footfall.

With some crime stats indicating a dip in reported incidents, others are warning you to view declining data with caution. Whilst it might be confusing to parliament whether crime is up or down, one thing is for sure: you need measures to prevent it. Trends come and go, graphs go up and down but what remains is the damage to your business after the dust has settled. Unavoidable crime is your worst nightmare. You could have prevented it, but you didn’t. You could have avoided the damage, missed out on losing thousands of pounds in lost hours and saved your reputation, yet you did nothing?

Our advice is simple: ensure you are proactively taking steps to decrease the risks you are exposed to, because at the end of the day, that’s all you can do. This is what we specialise in so if you require expert security guards in London to protect your business and your future, you know who to call – and please, don’t delay.

The longer you are unprotected, the higher your risks and that’s a fact.

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