A project that started at the end of last year to ensure retail centres are a safe environment for shoppers and traders is gaining impetus following the appointment of a crime research expert and the collaborative efforts of four primary influencers in business and the retail industry. The initiative will also include development of specialist technology.
The project participants and financial supporters are Business Against Crime SA, the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC), the SA Property Association (SAPOA) and the Consumer Goods Council of SA (CGCSA). They are also working with the Banking Risk Information Centre and the South African Police Services.
SACSC GM, Tracey Fowler, says that the role played by shopping centres in the lives of South African families was so important, that they had to be seen as an extension of their lifestyles. “So, safety in shopping centres, within a national community that is preoccupied with security, is paramount.” Recently-elected President of the SACSC, Julie Hillary, is on record as having prioritised the security initiative during her tenure.
Following funding voted by Liberty Life and Pareto Properties in October last year, BACSA crime research and facilitation expert Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, a project manager in KwaZulu-Natal, began working on strategies to improve security in shopping centres, which have become the specific target of criminals.
Armed robberies at shopping centres, she says, are linked to cash management, including cash handling in stores and cash in transit, and to the existence of jewelry and high value goods. It is these areas of risk that have to be managed in order to reduce the incidence of crime in retail centres.
Irish-Qhobosheane, who is a law graduate from KZN, has done extensive work on crime issues, and was seconded to the shopping centre initiative by Business Against Crime SA.
Her objective now, she says is to help devise strategies to deal with the particular crimes that are perpetrated against retail centres. She has established a working support team and the plan is to develop various committees, sourced from the participating bodies, to deal with specific issues.
A business plan has been completed and is now in effect, and the eventual objective is to bring all the participants together to develop a working policy to reduce risk within the shopping centre environment.
Among the resources that will be called on by the leaders of the project, is the SAPS national high-tech centre dealing with business robberies. “One of our major objectives is to generate and promote a close relationship with the police, and develop early warning systems and technology that will discourage crime,” Irish-Qhobosheane concludes.
