Retail and small business crime

Introduction

In Australia, as in many other countries, crime against small business is an area of increasing concern. In 1999, it was estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that there were approximately 1,051,500 small businesses in Australia, and that the small business sector is the strongest overall contributor to national employment growth. Crimes against businesses, however, are proportionately greater than against residential households, making crime not just a problem for individual businesses but for the economy as a whole.

The primary responsibility for crime prevention and control rests with the various state and territory governments. However, the Australian Government, through its National Crime Prevention Program, is committed to working in partnership with state and territory governments and the business and community sectors to prevent and to respond to crime and violence more effectively. Two small business crime prevention kits were produced by the program in 2004: E-crime : a crime prevention kit for small business and Small business : is your business secure? A crime prevention kit for small business.

Contents

• AIC work
  • Publications
  • Research projects
  • Conferences and presentations
• Crimes against businesses
  • Fraud and cybercrime
  • Robbery
  • Theft and burglary
• Research and prevention
  • Prevention programs, research and responses
  • Practical prevention guides
• Statistics
• Links

Related topics: Property crime; Robbery; Occupational violence; Fraud; Cybercrime