Reporting of Crime against Small Retail Businesses

Abstract

Under-reporting of crime to police means not only that police crime records may underestimate the extent of particular crimes but that valuable resources and crime prevention strategies may be aimed at certain crimes because they are reported more frequently f to the neglect of other prevalent but less reported crimes. Surveys of businesses have revealed that while crimes such as burglary and robbery tend to be reported to police, other crimes such as employee theft, employee fraud and shoplifting are likely to go unreported. Understanding why some crimes are reported and others are not is essential to encouraging business proprietors to report crime which, in turn, is essential for obtaining an accurate picture of crime and for developing effective crime prevention and management strategies. Drawing on data from the Small Business Crime Survey, this paper reveals that reporting behaviour of small retail businesses varied as a function of the type of crime and whether the crime was attempted or completed. While nine in ten completed burglaries and robberies were reported to police, only one in 17 incidents of employee theft, one in five incidents of shoplifting and one in four incidents of cheque! credit card fraud were reported. Reasons for non-reporting varied, but most commonly reflected a pessimistic belief that reporting crime was pointless and achieved nothing. Further research to unravel the complex nature of reporting behaviour and to encourage greater reporting is recommended. Adam Graycar Director It is now generally accepted that crimes which are reported to the police may under-represent levels and patterns of crime occurring in the community. Many crimes go unreported to the police, meaning that not only is an accurate description of crime difficult to obtain, but the overall picture of crime that we do obtain may be biased. This is particularly a problem for police and government agencies that must use valuable resources to combat crime problems based on their understanding of where crime is occurring and the types of crime that occur. Given that police crime data rely heavily on community input and a willingness to report crime (how else can the police know if a theft or burglary has occurred?) it is important to investigate how much and what types of crime may be under-reported to police, and why particular crimes go unreported. Identifying the extent of the problem will then assist in the development of strategies to encourage greater reporting and improve the accuracy of police data (Carcach & Makkai 2002). While there has been considerable research into uncovering reasons for (non)reporting associated with crimes against individuals and property in general (for example, Carcach 1997; MacDonald 2001; Schwind & Zwenger 1992; Skogan 1984; Sparks, Genn & Dodd 1977), research into small businesses' crime reporting practices is scant. Crimes against small businesses, however, are attracting greater attention due to increasing acknowledgment that rates of victimisation are substantially higher for businesses than households (Fisher & Looye 2000; Hopkins 2002; Mirrlees-Black & Ross 1995). Further, the impact of crime on small businesses is not restricted to individual business victims but can extend to employees, customers, local businesses and the economy (Taylor & Mayhew 2002b). These impacts are often difficult to quantify but if crimes against business are underestimated due to underreporting, then we run the risk of severely underestimating the broader impact of these hidden crimes on the community in general. We also risk allocating resources inappropriately and targeting particular crimes because they are the most frequently reported while ignoring other crimes which go unreported but may be just as deserving of attention. This paper draws on data from the Small Business Crime Survey conducted in 1999 to identify the extent and types of crime reported to police that occur against retail businesses, and to investigate why some crimes go unreported. …