BCRP: Business Crime Reduction Partnership
Our mission at Central BID BCRP is to ensure a safe business environment through collaboration with businesses, West Midlands Police and the community. We are committed to reducing business crime with proactive strategies, innovative technology and effective training programmes, supporting a thriving and secure Birmingham city centre for customers and staff
Central BID is bringing city-centre businesses and the police together in a new group – Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) – aimed at targeting crime from shoplifting to staff abuse.
The new BCRP – has launched with a Steering Group that has members from across West Midlands Police, Central BID and the business community.
Ria Osborne, Security Manager at Selfridges in Birmingham, is chairing BCRP’s Steering Group but it also includes store and area managers from many retailers who have first-hand knowledge of latest issues.
Central to the group is new BCRP Co-Ordinator, Bryan Edwards, who will liaise with businesses and give regular updates.
Bryan will work closely with BID members and the police to reduce stock loss and work on crime prevention projects. A new information data sharing platform will help with this.
Bryan has spent nearly seven years at Central BID as a Business Support Officer and his previous roles include working as a West Midlands Police Cadet Unit Commander in Wolverhampton.
Ria Osborne is the chair of the new BCRP Steering Group. For nearly four years she has been Security Manager at Selfridges in Birmingham – the department store’s second largest in the UK.
Ria, who manages 32 security guards, previously worked for John Lewis and Next.
To find out more about the work of the BCRP by emailing bryan.edwards@centralbid.co.uk
City Safe Radio Network
There are now 260 City Safe radios in operation across Central BID businesses with more members signing up every week.
Giving businesses a direct link with patrol officers and West Midlands Police’s CCTV team, City Safe is another tool helping to tackle shoplifting, anti-social behaviour and other crimes.
The immediacy of the radio broadcast means that if something goes on in the city centre, the BID business support team can react quickly during their working hours. City Safe members can also talk directly to the police camera operator and can request for them to record footage when there is an incident.
The scheme is open to all businesses, not just Central BID members. It is available by subscription and costs £10 a week plus VAT.
For more information on City Safe or to sign up, tap here.