Event Recap: Norwich Business Crime Conference 2026
Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) welcomed businesses, partners and stakeholders to the Norwich Business Crime Conference 2026, held at The Forum on 10 March 2026.
The event brought together experts from policing, national crime prevention bodies and local partnership initiatives to discuss the current retail crime landscape and the practical steps businesses can take to help keep the city centre safe.
The conference highlighted both the scale of the challenge facing retailers across the UK and the importance of strong partnerships between businesses, police and local organisations. Speakers from the National Business Crime Centre, Norfolk Constabulary and Norwich BID shared national context, emerging trends and updates on the collaborative work already underway in Norwich.
The National Role for Policing & Artificial Intelligence
Titus Halliwell from the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) opened the conference with an overview of the national picture and the growing importance of partnership working in tackling retail crime.
The NBCC works closely with businesses, police forces, Business Improvement Districts and Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRPs) across the UK to prevent and reduce the impact of crime on businesses. Its work focuses on providing guidance, training and practical advice to help organisations strengthen their crime prevention measures and respond effectively when incidents occur.
Titus outlined the scale of the issue nationally. UK retailers have spent around £5.5 billion on crime prevention measures over the last five years. The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics in January 2026, estimated that 9.3 million offences occurred in the 12 months to September 2025 across all crime types. Of these, 519,381 incidents (around 5.6%) were shop thefts, representing a 5% increase compared with the previous year.
Robbery affecting businesses has also risen sharply, with 22,478 incidents recorded, an increase of 66% year on year. Data from the British Retail Consortium Retail Crime Survey, published in February 2026, reported that retail crime cost UK businesses £583 million last year and that retail workers experience around 1,600 incidents of abuse or violence each day, equivalent to one incident every 54 seconds.
Retail environments are also a significant location for other forms of harm. Titus noted that around 30% of hate crime and violence against women and girls offences occur in retail settings. With roughly one in ten UK employees working in retail, protecting staff and customers remains a critical priority.
He also highlighted the Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, introduced in summer 2025, which brings together industry, policing and government partners. The strategy focuses on five key areas: improving the use of data to target organised retail crime, strengthening offender management approaches, ensuring consistency across partnerships, sharing evidence on effective crime prevention measures and measuring outcomes to understand what works.
Technology is increasingly part of the response. Titus explained that police forces are beginning to make greater use of artificial intelligence tools, including facial recognition technology used retrospectively through CCTV footage and, in some cases, through live systems such as mobile CCTV units. Businesses considering similar technologies were advised to use established software providers and ensure systems are designed to avoid algorithmic bias.
His key message was that tackling retail crime requires coordinated action between police, businesses and communities, with a focus on hotspot areas, visible policing and a firm response to antisocial behaviour.
Business Crime Partnership Working in Norwich
Chris Clay from Norfolk Constabulary and Michael Yates, Head of Operations at Norwich Business Improvement District, spoke about the importance of partnership working between police and businesses in tackling retail crime locally.
Chris highlighted some of the current operational challenges in Norwich city centre, including concerns around groups of young people congregating in certain areas. Police are working to address these situations through a safeguarding-led approach. Norfolk Constabulary also continues to engage with local schools and youth services to help address the underlying issues.
Retailers were encouraged to continue reporting incidents through the DISC platform and other channels, as accurate reporting helps police identify patterns, understand trends and respond more effectively to repeat offending.
Michael then outlined the work of Norwich BID’s Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP), which supports businesses through a range of initiatives including information sharing, the city centre radio scheme, incident reporting via the DISC platform and ongoing engagement with retailers.
Norwich BID works closely with Norfolk Constabulary as part of the city’s retail crime strategy, using shared intelligence and reporting data to help identify emerging issues and target responses. The partnership has also achieved national certification from the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships, recognising the strength of the collaborative approach in Norwich.
Reporting levels through the partnership have increased significantly over the past year. From 2024 to 2025, overall incident reports rose by 32%. Within this, incidents involving theft or fraud increased by 23%, while incidents involving verbal abuse increased by 118%.
Analysis of the data shows that the highest concentration of reported incidents in Norwich city centre occurred along Gentleman’s Walk, in the Riverside area and around Hay Hill. This intelligence helps partners target resources more effectively and coordinate activity in areas where issues are most prevalent.
Together, the speakers reinforced a shared message: strong partnerships, effective reporting and open communication between businesses and police remain central to tackling retail crime and supporting a safer city centre.
The graph below illustrates the YoY increase of crime incidents reported via ALERT, Norwich’s Business Crime Reduction Scheme…
