The true extent of business crime in your area has been revealed in alarming statistics showing our firms are hit by crime more than once every minute.
The figures are from a study of police-recorded crimes across the UK regions, and also show that more often than not, the perpetrator gets off scot-free.
It found that in 2018/19, across England and Wales, there were 606,282 crimes against businesses.
The highest rate of business crime per person is actually in Cleveland in the North East, where there were 1,948 for every 100,000 people - up from 1,920 in 2017/18.
Humberside was second (1,567 for every 100,000 people) and Northumbria third (1,532 for every 100,000 people).
The data includes offences like shoplifting, burglary, robbery, theft by an employee, making off without payment and theft from an automatic machine or meter.
A National Police Chiefs' Council spokesman said: "The National Business Crime Centre works closely with businesses and police forces to help raise standards and prevent and combat crime.
"We encourage businesses to report all crimes to their local police force and we are currently looking at ways to make online reporting easier to ensure that we have a better understanding of the extent of crimes against business and can develop a joint response to tackle them.”
Here is a selected breakdown of business crimes over the past year, region by region:
Birmingham
- Businesses in Birmingham hit by crime more than once every 15 minutes
- 36,510 crimes against businesses in the region during 2018-19 - 623 for every 100,000 people
- Most common crime was shoplifting
- The number of crimes targeting businesses has decreased compared to the previous year, when there were 37,527
- In three quarters of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Nottinghamshire
-Businesses in Nottinghamshire hit by crime every 30 minutes
- Shoplifting the most common crime, at 11,340 - more than two-thirds
- There were 16,087 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - up more than 1,000 more than the year before. That's 1,402 for every 100,000 people
Staffordshire
- Businesses hit by crime more than once an hour
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 11,832 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - up by around 400 on year before. That's 1,051 business crimes for every 100,000 people
- In half of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Manchester
- Businesses in Greater Manchester hit by crime every 15 minutes
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 32,550 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - down by over 1,000 on year before. That's 1,163 business crimes for every 100,000 people
- In three-quarters of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Merseyside
- Businesses on Merseyside hit by crime once an hour
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 13,846 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - down by around 400 on year before. That's 977 business crimes for every 100,000 people
- In more than half of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Humberside
- Businesses in Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe hit by crime every 30 minutes
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 14,576 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - up almost 1,000 on year before, and 1,567 for every 100,000 people
- In half of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Northumbria
- Businesses in Newcastle and its surrounding areas hit by crime more than twice an hour
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 22,198 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - up by more than 1,000 on the year before. That's 1,532 for every 100,000 people.
West Yorkshire
- Businesses in Leeds and Huddersfield hit by crime every 20 minutes
- Shoplifting the most common crime
- There were 29,247 crimes against businesses in 2018-19 - down by around 1,000 on year before. That's 1,268 business crimes for every 100,000 people
- In more than half of cases, perpetrator got off scot-free
Overall, there were 69.2 crimes every hour on average affecting businesses.
That works out more than one every minute - or 1,032 “business crimes” for every 100,000 people living in the country.
The good news is that the number of crimes targeting businesses has decreased compared to the previous year, when there were 657,718.
Of the 606,282 “business crimes” recorded in 2018/19, shoplifting was the most common.
There were 374,395 shoplifting crimes in all - meaning it accounted for more than half of all “business crimes”.
The figures also show 83,032 cases of making off without paying, 109,391 burglaries against commercial properties, 16,886 attempted burglaries, and 437 aggravated burglaries - when the criminal carries a weapon.
There were also 8,256 robberies, 9,835 thefts by employees and 4,050 thefts from an automatic machine or meter.
In 2018/19, the police investigated 598,330 business crimes. In 347,961 cases - or 58 per cent - the investigation was completed with no suspect ever identified.
That means that in more than half of cases, the perpetrator got off scot-free.
Larger areas like London, the West Midlands or Greater Manchester naturally have the highest absolute numbers of "business crimes" - because more people live and work there.
