NCJ Number
177083
Date Published
1995
Length
273 pages
Annotation
This book explores the various threats to "safe shopping" in retail establishments in Great Britain, with attention to two retail environments: the traditional town center (the high street) and the nearby shopping center or shopping mall.
Abstract
A major component of the book is data derived from a 1994 survey commissioned by the Retail Crime Initiative of the British Retail Consortium. The survey, which was the first of its kind, involved face-to-face interviews with four sets of respondents: a systematic random sample of 334 town-center shoppers and 288 comparable shoppers in nearby shopping centers, drawn from six towns and cities in England; and samples of 40 town-center managers and 161 shopping center managers throughout England, Wales, and Scotland. The aim of the survey was to compare perceptions of crime and nuisance in the two retail environments by using the views of both shoppers and retail managers. The crime-prevention and risk-management implications of the findings are discussed throughout the book, with a focus on the use and effectiveness of security measures such as conventional policing, private security guards, closed circuit television, and security shutters, as well as town-center and shopping center managers' views about crime prevention priorities. Whenever possible, the discussion and analysis moves beyond the bounds of town centers and shopping centers to draw wider implications for "safe chopping" in general. The study found that a minority of town- center customers perceive town centers to be blighted by both crime and nuisance. The only problem in shopping centers was perceived to be that of kids "hanging out." Chapter tables and 306 references