Scheme aims to make Telford’s Stafford Park a crime free business zone
“Sticky fingered” criminals could become unstuck with the launch of a unique scheme to protect firms from crime on a Shropshire industrial estate.
Operation Citadel aims to make Telford’s Stafford Park industrial estate a crime free business zone when it is launched on Friday, June 17. If the anti crime scheme is a success it will be rolled out across other business areas in the county and possibly the UK.
Criminals will be deterred from targeting the estate for fear of being caught as crimefighters, business leaders and police join forces to cut down crime and save firm’s money.
Operation Citadel is an innovative crimebusting campaign in line with the Government’s “Big Society” idea with companies urged to band together to create a secure business zone, share crime information and initiate crime prevention advice.
“This involves them looking out for their own company and for each others. By deterring crime from their neighbours, they are ensuring that the place they work from is a crime free zone,” said Detective Chief Inspector Alan Edwards.
A reduction in crime protects jobs, cuts insurance risks and encourages more firms to come to Telford giving an employment boost to the region, he said.
“By working together we can reduce crime. Citadel is about more than just safeguarding a few individual companies on Stafford Park. It is about securing the business success and prosperity of the region for the future.”
Telford based SmartWater is donating almost £100,000 to give every Stafford Park firm a free anti-crime kit so that goods, if stolen, are traceable and the culprit in danger of being caught. SmartWater sprays intruders with a solution containing a unique forensic code linking the criminal with the crime scene and raising the chances of conviction.
“Firms will mark all their metal items, computers, laptops and stealable goods with the SmartWater liquid which glows yellow under infrared light,” said organiser Mick Ebsworth, head of security at Capgemini, who is leading the anti business crime fight.
“Any thief who is stupid enough to steal from Stafford Park in the future faces a very good chance of being caught. The trace will show up on a police station scan to reveal where their sticky fingers have been,” said Mick, chair of the One Telford Safer Stronger Business Group.
“Crime is forecast to rise in an economic downturn and police can’t be everywhere. If a thief steals your lorries catalytic convertors , it stops your business working and you can lose contracts.
“But if everything is SmartWater marked then this is a real opportunity to keep thieves at bay and protect your business.”
The group also wants to erect roadside cameras at Stafford Park’s three entrance routes to capture suspicious vehicles moving in and out of the zone after a theft.
Police say thieves cost Shropshire businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds in the cost of replacing stolen items, paying higher insurance and lost business.
Favourites on the thieves shopping list include most metals, including catalyctic convertors at £1,000 each, drain covers and copper wiring, which all make a high price abroad, along with computers, laptops, engine parts, diesel and satnavs. Some firms are “re-visited” by criminals, said crime reduction officer Fred Jones.
Over 12 months there were 88 offences committed on Stafford Park Industrial Estate in 2009/10 – with a total of 290 crimes on all of Telford’s nine industrial estates – down 120 from 2007/08 crime figures.
To receive the Ringmaster email, phone or text alerts of crime in your area visit www.twpcm.org or www.safer-shropshire.org
To apply for a free SmartWater kit available initially only to Stafford Park firms call in at Shropshire Chamber of Commerce’s offices at Stafford Park 4 on Friday, June 17 from 9.30am to 4pm.
