The Publication For The Grocery Trade

Focus On RobberyTM Partnership Symposium

IBP Group will hold its sixth annual Focus on RobberyTM Partnership Symposium on the 13th and 14th September 2007 at which delegates will discuss the 'big issues' concerning robbery in the retail environment and how staff and assets can be protected and the impact of these crimes reduced. The Symposium will present a real life robbery reconstruction and then conduct a 'cradle to grave' interactive mini-conference raising important crime prevention strategies that can reduce the likelihood of retail robberies happening. The focus of the session will include pre & post raid preparation, looking after staff, preservation of forensic evidence, police action and the legal process. Richard Childs QPM, former Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable, will chair the event with support from six leading experts in their field. These will include Michael Hodge, Principal Architectural Liaison Officer for Greater Manchester Police & Visiting Professor at University of Salford, Steve Nelson, Group Security Manager, Thomas Cook, Detective Inspector Andy Smith, Met Police Flying Squad and Kevin Tasker, Head of the Centre for Crisis Psychology. Digby Ram, Managing Director of IBP Group said, "No single person has a monopoly on security knowledge and this year's Symposium will bring together some of the best expertise in the field of crime reduction, victim support and criminal behaviour. Working in isolation is no longer an option and when it involves violent crime we all have a duty to ensure that retailers, staff and customers can go about their business in safety." Professional actors will undertake the robbery re-enactment, which will contain several procedural errors and a lack of recognised security measures to highlight areas of bad practice that can assist offenders when carrying out retail robberies. The experts will then provide an insight into how the retail sector can protect itself by maintaining compliance of simple security procedures and installing a range of crime reduction measures that deter offending and help detect criminals should a robbery take place. To complete the full circle of crime reduction strategies, David Ryan, a leading UK expert on gathering, evaluating and disseminating criminal intelligence, will provide the delegates with advice on how the National Intelligence Model can be used in the retail environment. The presentation will include examples of how suspicion can be converted into intelligence and how this can empower staff to make informed decisions thereby protecting people and assets. IBP Group - Founded in 1992, IBP specialises in the protection of cash and the management of security equipment installation programmes, for more information see www.ibp-group.com or contact the IBP team on +44 (0) 1428 641399. Focus on RobberyTM Partnership - a joint not-for-profit initiative formed in 2004 by IBP Group to harness expertise from every discipline that has an interest in understanding the reasons for criminal behaviour, analysing the effectiveness of current reduction measures and reducing violent crime. Digby Ram, Managing Director of IBP International. Former Chairman of Banknote Watch Trust www.banknotewatch.org and Raid-control Trust www.raid-control.org. Convenor of the European Committee for Standardisation Technical Committee Working Group 4 (CEN TC263 WG4), responsible for creating standards for stained note detection systems. Richard Childs QPM - Director of The Community & Safety Consultancy Ltd and former Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police. IBP Group Tel: 01428 641399 www.ibp-group.com