Bill Briggs, group securities operations manager at electronics retailer Dixons, said protecting against losses should not be a competitive issue. "Our own loss prevention information can only take us so far," he said. "Selling for profit is a competitive issue but protecting our profit from crime should not be."
Briggs, who is chairman of the data and information group at the British Retail Consortium, said the industry body is planning to re-launch its National Retail Crime database next month, to make it easier for retailers to share crime incident data.
"It is an absolute must for all retailers to join the database," he said. "The more information is on there, the better it will be for all of us."
Sharing data can help retailers to identify particular trends and take counter-measures, Briggs said. "For example, when mobile phone retailers began suffering a number of devastating burglary attacks in June last year they shared their incident information and, as a result, were able to justify substantial spending on countermeasures," he said.
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This was first published in October 2002
