Survey: Crime has risen by 4%, public more satisfied with police and councils

Original news source: Security News Desk 

Crime in the UK rose by 4%, with violent crime up 9%, according to the latest British Crime Survey data.

In the 12 months to September 2011, the period covered by today’s report, crime reported by the survey rose by 4%. This was broken down by:

• Vandalism – down 7%
• Burglary – up 5%
• Vehicle-related theft – up 7%
• Bicycle theft – down 8%
• Other household theft – up 4%
• Theft from the person – up 12%
• other theft of personal property – up 14%
• All violence – up 9%
• All BCS crime – up 4%

British Crime Survey

The survey covers August 2011 when there were significant disturbances in cities across England.

Editor’s view: Let’s help business tackle street crime with CCTV

During the same period of time, the police reported a 4% decrease across all categories of crime. The BCS survey complements data collected from the police and often contradicts police figures. This is because BCS data is based on interviews with individuals and includes incidents which are not reported to the police.

The survey notes an 11% increase in personal crime in the period, but discounts this as a blip and points to data since 2004/05 to claim that crime levels have remained relatively unchanged.

The 9% increase in violent crime was said to be not statistically significant and there is no upward trend in violence, especially in light of an 8% fall in violent crime recorded by police last year and a five-year downward trend.

Meanwhile, robberies of businesses has fallen while personal robbery (street robbery for phones, bags and cash) has risen by 4% according to police figures, supporting the 12% rise noted in the BCS survey. 50% of all street robbery takes place in London where there has been a 13% increase.

And police and councils are getting the credit for beating crime, with 57% of those questioned saying they were doing a good job compared to just over half last year.

Trevor Elliott, director of manpower and membership services, BSIA

Trevor Elliott, director of manpower and membership services of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), said, ”The quoted reduction in robberies of businesses is certainly encouraging and a testament to the work carried out by the police, the business sector and the private security industry to diminish the incidence of this type of crime. However, commercial crime is still an unwelcome reality and in order to continue reducing its effects on businesses it is essential for all parties to continue working together effectively.

“Businesses should check that their security measures are reliable and up-to-date. CCTV equipment, manned guarding and access control systems such as item tags have time and again proven invaluable in deterring criminals and responding more effectively to offences, but to get the most out of these systems they must be properly installed and monitored and provided by expert and professional security companies.

“The improved effectiveness of the security systems in place will in fact not only deter criminals, but also ensure immediate police response and facilitate the conviction of offenders.”

Links

British Crime Survey 

British Security Industry Association (BSIA)

Original news source: Security News Desk 

Identity Fraud – The Plague of the 21st Century?

As promised below is a very interesting subject from one of our guest bloggers - Graeme Forward.

As a fraud analyst sitting down to pen his first offering for a security blog it seems to me there is only one topic I can kick off with if I want to seem hip and with it and on the pulse – yes, I speak of course of identity fraud. Identity fraud is the current ‘du jour’ crime, a terrifying new plague where just a few minutes trawling through a wheelie bin arms your local hoodie with sufficient ‘data’ to steal your money, your friends and family, your cat, your dog, your tv remote, and most importantly your self confidence and self esteem. Or so your average tabloid would have you believe.

“This ID Fraud is a menace” I hear you cry, “why not have a whole week devoted to making people more aware of it?” Good idea. So they did. It was called National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (unsurprisingly) and ran last week (17th-23rd Oct). You didn’t miss it did you?

Who is using your identity?

Now don’t get me wrong, I do think ID fraud is a problem, of course it is, and it’s only right that there are groups working to make people aware of how to prevent it. ID fraud does need to be put into perspective though. The reason it gets so much press is that it is one of the only large scale frauds which is perpetrated against individuals rather than businesses. Crime against business is rarely news.



ID fraud can take many guises but invariably the aim is to gain access to money by posing as another – thus making them responsible for it. (This begs the question why is it now possible for me to get a loan in less than 10 mins via an iPhone app or over the internet with precious little in the way of security checks? – the costs of this are already becoming apparent though, and this is a topic for another day.)

ID fraud is commonly perceived as a crime against an individual, but this is a matter for debate. If a victim of ID fraud has taken reasonable steps in their day-to-day activities to mitigate the risk then in the majority of instances the bank/building society etc will be responsible for picking up the bill, and so the party left out of pocket is rarely an individual. And with that we come to the crux. National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is not the selfless, philanthropic event it seemed at first glance – businesses understand that if they can get you to do all the hard work for them they can save themselves an awful lot of money. This is corporate fraud prevention on a national scale and I have to admit I’m impressed. Just as we were all starting to feel sorry for those poor banks again.

Worryingly, in this modern world of social networking, professional hackers and spyware, the main message to come out of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week was “get a shredder”. Conveniently, most of the companies involved in the awareness drive are able to supply you with one at a very reasonable price.



Overall, NIFPW didn’t quite achieve what it set out to. As so often is the case with these initiatives, it was the security and fraud professionals who were most aware of it – yet another case of our industries preaching to the converted. Unfortunately as with so many things, it’s not until someone becomes a victim of this kind of crime that they sit up and take notice, but by then it’s too late. So maybe fraud prevention on a macro scale isn’t quite as impressive as I first thought. Guess it’s back to the drawing board. Maybe we’d more successful if we stopped trying to preach to people and allowed them to use some common sense. Protecting yourself from ID crime is after all just about being aware and being sensible about what you do with your personal information, whether it’s online or on paper.



One final thought – There was one genuinely alarming statistic to come out of NIFPW. It seems that almost a third of all ID frauds are committed by someone the victim knows – most often a member of the family. Maybe NIFPW’s message should really have been – take your chances with the wheelie bin hoodies- rather that than leave your info lying around on the bottom of the stairs where your auntie or uncle might pick it up.

My top 5 tips to help prevent you becoming a victim of ID fraud:

- Be careful how you deal with credit/debit cards particularly when out and about. Never write down pin numbers or let your card out of your site when making a transaction.

- Think carefully about the information you display on social networking sites – your settings may only let your ‘friends’ see your information, but these 250 or so people you spoke to once at school 20 years ago are not always quite as ‘friendly’ as their supposed status would suggest

- Never give any bank details out in response to unsolicited phone calls or emails. Fraudsters are very good at forging documents or presenting themselves as a bonafide company, but your bank will never ask you to provide your pin no or the whole of your password.

- Don’t stress about it, just be sensible. Use your common sense and be mindful of how personal information could be interpreted or used.

- Get a shredder.

20-26 Sept 2010 UK Home Security Week

All too often we in the corporate security arena concentrate on very high level ‘important’ security risks such as terrorism, physical, info sec and data loss to name but a few and simple security is sometimes over looked.

I recently gave a presentation to a number of senior management and asked them ‘when does security start in their day?’ All of them answered when they enter their building and surprisingly not before they leave home in the morning.

The week is designed to highlight what you can do to combat crime against your property and  the website http://www.ukhomesecurityweek.co.uk/ will show you how to make your home safer and more secure for you and your family.

For the record, ever the professional, I have shared this website with those managers. Please visit, publicise to your family, friends and colleagues. Enjoy and keeeeeeeeepp securing.

Top 5 Burglar's Deterrents

Don’t pay for Skype – It’s a scam

Action Fraud states that Internet users are being warned to watch out for a scam that charges money for what appears to be an upgrade of Skype. Check out this, other current fraud threats and how to report fraud at http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/ or read more

TfL Press Release - Crime falls again on the Tube as investment in security continues

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that crime on the Underground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) went down by 4% in 2009/10.

Some of the most notable statistics released by the British Transport Police (BTP) showed that:

• Violent crime has been cut by nearly eight per cent
• Public disorder offences are down by around 23 per cent
• Vandalism has reduced by 17%
• Drug-related offences have seen a reduction of nearly 22%
• Pick pocketing has seen an 11% rise

Following the increase in theft of passenger property TfL has worked with the BTP on dedicated operations to tackle these offences and pickpocket figures are already starting to see a significant reduction.

Continued improvements in safety and physical security on trains and stations, as well as TfL's ongoing collaborative work with the BTP, have helped with this overall reduction. But there is always more that can be done which is why significant resources are devoted to catching and prosecuting criminals and CCTV cameras across the network are being increased from 12,000 to more than 14,000 in years to come.

In addition London Underground (LU) is consulting on changes with trade unions on operational staffing at Tube stations, which would see staff from behind ticket offices move out onto station platforms and gate lines to provide a more visible presence for passengers. There are now more than 1500 Help points across the Tube network and our most recent market research shows people feel safer while travelling on the Tube.

In addition, crime on London Overground has remained low overall with significant reductions in robberies and drug-related offences. Some interesting figures released by the British Transport Police (BTP) show that for 2009/10:

Crime on the LU/DLR network was down by 4%
There are now just 13 crimes for every million passenger journeys
Violent crime has been cut by 7.5%
Sexual offences have been reduced by 3%
Criminal damage has gone down by 17.2%
Theft of passenger property or pick-pocketing has seen an increase of 10.8%
Theft of railway property, including cable theft, has seen an increase of 6.8%
Public disorder offences have gone down 22.7%
Fraud offences, including tampering with cash and ticket machines on LU property, have gone down by 10.4%
Drug-related offences have gone down by 21.7%
Robbery saw an increase of 0.7%
LU carried more than a billion passengers in 2009/10

Figures released by the BTP for London Overground also show that for 2009/10, Crimes on the London Overground network was down from 523 to 517:

Violent crime increased from 111 to 113
Sexual offences have been reduced by 38.5%
Criminal damage increased from 49 to 58
Theft of passenger property or pick-pocketing has seen an increase of from 73 to 85
Theft of railway property, including cable theft, was reduced by 27.8%
Public disorder offences went up from 87 to 91
Fraud offences, have gone down by 60%
Drug-related offences have gone down by 25%
Robbery saw a decrease of 26.7%

National Trust Defends Security After Theft

The National Trust defended its security measures yesterday following the theft of silverware thought to be worth thousands of pounds in a break-in at a stately home. The full story is here