The Federation of Small Busineses (FSB) has reacted to the Prime Minister's announcement on his 'respect' agenda today and sought to remind him of the extent of crime to small business and the severity with which it is dealt with.
The FSB said that 58% of small businesses were the victims of at least one crime last year and that the FSB's members felt that crimes against business were not taken as seriously as crimes against individuals and households, despite the former being twice as numerous as the latter.
The FSB's Home Affairs spokesman David Croucher said: "For a small business, just one crime can mean the difference between staying in business and going bust. If a small shop is vandalised and cannot open until repairs are made, customers can go elsewhere and not come back.
"We welcome any moves that may address this threat to small firms. However, many of our members will hope that prevention is backed up with punishment, to ensure that those that threaten people's livelihoods...are given sufficiently tough sentences to deter them and others from perpetuating this cycle of crime.
"One way to do this is to measure crime against business as a separate key performance indicator for the police. Once the police are measured and held accountable on this they will have to target resources to it.
"Currently many of our members feel that crime against business is not taken seriously. This simple change would ensure that small firms face a more secure future."
