Balancing acts and breakthroughs

My reflections on security innovations, rehabilitation challenges and proactive policing strategies

This week, the news also caught my attention. A presumption against custodial sentences of less than a year, which will clearly have an impact on sentencing for shop theft.

Initiatives to ease prison overcrowding are understandable, but what’s the impact on retail? If imprisonment is off the table, where’s the deterrent?

Does the victim feel like justice has been done?

We’ve leaned heavily on punishment, locking offenders up more frequently. Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, focus heavily on rehabilitation, investing in restorative justice. They encourage offenders to engage directly with victims, understand their impact, and actively seek to repair harm. In the UK, however, we lack the infrastructure to fully embrace this.

My colleagues and I recently hosted a thought leadership event at the Old Bailey, one of my close industry friends, Stuart Toogood presented the benefits of rehabilitation and the Offending to Recovery Program, and I fully support this initiative. But it’s isolated. What if you’re in Manchester or the southwest or Scotland? Rehabilitation is vital, but victims need to feel justice has been served, and we need systemic process. A balance must be found.

Reducing sentences under 12 months feels similar to when shoplifting offences under £200 were re classified summary only offences. Some shopworkers became disillusioned, asking why they should bother reporting.

The sector’s reaction to this latest move could mirror that frustration. Success in prison reforms should align with reducing reoffending, not just easing prison space. It reminds me of a prominent courier’s issue with redelivery costs spiraling out of control. Implementing bonuses for first-time delivery created an immediate 99% improvement… because parcels weren’t returned. Instead of actually delivering them the first time, couriers were discarding or misplacing them instead to avoid returning to the depot with an undelivered parcel. We must be careful what we incentivise.

On Monday, I was in Reading with the Business Improvement District and our fantastic Street Team. We demonstrated to a national retailer the effectiveness of urban shared security resourcing – essentially private policing. Sharing detailed business crime data, we can improve localised intelligence significantly. For example, knowing a persistent offender from another region allows us to proactively identify and apprehend them in Reading town centre, creating a significant deterrent effect. This integrated approach along corridors like the Elizabeth Line helps track offenders travelling from London to Reading.

Imagine apprehending someone who commits a crime in Wood Green today and another in Reading tomorrow. Such proactive policing from the private sector could drastically reduce crime. And that’s a true deterrent. However, to achieve widespread impact, increased funding and data sharing are essential. It’s a numbers game… and volume drives effectiveness.

Peter Fisher

Director of Risk and Intelligence