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Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative |
The Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative Limited (WRCI) is a County wide Partnership approach to prevent and reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in retail and licensed business premises in Warwickshire with members in Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth, Stratford, Rugby, Atherstone, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Coleshill.
The team is working to bring businesses together to work in partnership with the Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Warwickshire County Council, District Councils, CCTV, BIDS, the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships and other national and local organisations to tackle crime and disorder in our business communities. This ranges from theft from shops to violence in licensed premises.
The team is working to bring businesses together to work in partnership with the Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Warwickshire County Council, District Councils, CCTV, BIDS, the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships and other national and local organisations to tackle crime and disorder in our business communities. This ranges from theft from shops to violence in licensed premises.
We welcome new members. Read more about the scheme here. Contact us for further information or complete an application form
Benefits of membership:
Benefits of membership:
- Use of the DISC App to submit reports and view offender images both known and unknown
- View individuals excluded from WRCI member premises
- WRCI stickers to identify a premises as a member
- Participation in the exclusion order scheme
- Services of the WRCI Administrators
- Over 500 members to share information with
- Access to offender profiles
- Receive alerts via the instant message facility on the DISC App
- A weekly newsletter containing links to the latest news, alerts, documents and upcoming events
- Improved partnership relationship with the Police, CCTV and local authorities
- Creating a safer environment for retail and licensing business, customers and the community
- Reduce offending in member premises
National Business Crime Reduction Partnership Awareness Week
The National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP) has announced the first-ever National Awareness Week for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP), taking place from March 17th, 2025. As part of this initiative, the Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative (WRCI) is proud to showcase its ongoing efforts in tackling retail and business crime across the county.
Over the past year, WRCI members have reported more than 3,500 incidents from retail businesses and licensed premises. The scheme assists members in the control of retail premises by identifying individuals who may commit theft, leading to over 343 occasions where they have been deterred and and prevented from offending and similarly 357 instances where individuals excluded from a member licensed premises have been asked to leave. Members report the recovery of £55,000 of stolen goods in the last 12 months.
The National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP) has announced the first-ever National Awareness Week for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP), taking place from March 17th, 2025. As part of this initiative, the Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative (WRCI) is proud to showcase its ongoing efforts in tackling retail and business crime across the county.
Over the past year, WRCI members have reported more than 3,500 incidents from retail businesses and licensed premises. The scheme assists members in the control of retail premises by identifying individuals who may commit theft, leading to over 343 occasions where they have been deterred and and prevented from offending and similarly 357 instances where individuals excluded from a member licensed premises have been asked to leave. Members report the recovery of £55,000 of stolen goods in the last 12 months.
16 March 2025
The Home Office has published a fact sheet for the Crime and Policing Bill. It includes the following measures:
(a) Create a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker to protect staff, measure the scale of the problem and drive down retail crime.
(b) Repeal section 22A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (as inserted by section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014) to ensure that all shop theft is treated with the seriousness it deserves.
Read more here
13 March 2025
Association of Convenience Stores' 2025 Crime Report
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has published its annual Crime Report which estimates the total cost of crime to convenience stores at £316 million, equivalent to more than £6,000 per store. “This report states that only 36% of all retail crime is reported to police so it is clear more needs to be done to build confidence amongst convenience store workers that police will respond to their reports. We support the ACS’s call for retailers to report all incidents to enable police to act whilst also building an intelligence-based picture of those committing what are, often, repeat crimes.”
9 February 2025: Updates
- Nuneaton BID added to scheme Partners. Their Business Plan includes: Enhanced communication between the police and businesses to reduce shoplifting and anti-social behaviour in the town centre, utilising exclusion schemes and providing secure intelligence sharing for all BID businesses who wish to be part of the scheme. The BID would work in partnership with organisations including Local Authorities, Purple Flag, Pubwatch Scheme and Retail Radio.
- Warwick District Council is funding free WRCI membership for Warwick retail and licensing businesses until 31 March 2026. Please complete the contact form if you are interested.
