Brisbane CBD and Fortitude Valley retailers will band together next week in the Australia-first National Retail Association (NRA) SafeCity Network trial to share their experiences of retail crime, on the back of a spate of scammer incidents in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
NRA Policy Manager David Stout says local businesses are fed up being perceived as easy prey to known offenders and organised crime.
“Brisbane retailers lose an estimated $618 million a year to retail theft and there are strong indicators that the bulk of this is at the hands of organised individuals and syndicates,” Mr Stout said.
“With the support of Brisbane City Council and Crime Stoppers, we’ve launched the NRA SafeCity Network, which offers new channels for retailers to not only report crime but also to share this information with each other.”
Crime Stoppers CEO Trevor O’Hara will join with the NRA in leading the first in a series of retail crime workshops for Brisbane retailers.
The workshops will outline how participating businesses can use new reporting channels and new technology to share information on scammers and thieves with each other, so each can take better precautions to protect their own businesses.
“No single operator has the capacity to tackle retail crime alone, but with the NRA SafeCity Network, retailers can access a bank of new information on crimes that may have gone unreported otherwise, to better connect the dots, tackle problem perpetrators, and share that information with each other and local law enforcement,” Mr O’Hara said.
“Retailers are now able to use advancing technology to better equip themselves and help each other do the same.
“We’re calling on all retailers – large and small, from fashion to food, and everyone in between – who has at least one store in Brisbane City or The Valley, to take part.”
The first workshops will take place in Brisbane on March 20 and Fortitude Valley on March 27, with each workshop running from 7.30am to 8.30am.
The NRA SafeCity Network trial is supported by Brisbane City Council and received funding from the Commonwealth as part of the Safer Communities Fund.
Retailers wanting to find out more or to attend the workshops should contact the NRA on 1800 RETAIL or email info@nra.net.au.
