Uni joins innovative project to reduce business crime
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 12:49:00 GMT
Huddersfield’s Applied Criminology Centre selected for pilot scheme to reduce business crime in the region
An innovative project targeted at reducing business crime in the region has been announced today.
The Applied Criminology Centre (ACC) at the University of Huddersfield is a partner in a successful Capacity Building Grant application to the newly-established College of Policing. The project, just one of 17 funded out of 75 applications, aims to mainstream innovative techniques for reducing business crime into the four police forces making up the Yorkshire Humber region – West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Humberside – as a first step to a national roll-out.
Working closely with the not-for-profit charity, People United Against Crime (PUAC) and the four police forces, the ACC will assist in the development of suitable training materials for police officers; scan for future crime threats affecting businesses and develop a robust strategy for evaluating the impact of interventions on reducing crime.
The academic support that the ACC will be providing will help to ensure that police practice benefits from the latest research evidence on what works in reducing crime. This approach is central to what the newly-established College of Policing is seeking to achieve by encouraging links between universities and police practitioners.
The ACC has worked with PUAC before having recently completed an EU-funded project on the security of freight traffic using the northern European corridor.
ACC Director, Professor Alex Hirschfield, who is leading the study at Huddersfield, said: “I am delighted to have an opportunity to work once again with PUAC, especially on such an important but often under-researched topic such as business crime.
“Businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, are the lifeblood of our communities. They not only provide services and generate wealth, but are also a significant source of local employment. In difficult economic times, financial losses as a result of crime, particularly for small businesses, can mean the difference between survival and closure. It is in everyone’s interest to protect them and to ensure that the communities they serve and the areas where they are based are viewed as attractive places in which to invest, work and live.”
The project, which will also benefit from the considerable expertise in knowledge transfer frameworks of ACC’s Visiting Professor, Paul Ekblom, will run until the end of April 2014.
