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Go Forth Stirling is developing plans to introduce a crime prevention Shopwatch initiative to help the city’s retailers tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
The project would mirror the success of Stirling’s Pubwatch scheme which offers pub and club owners a fully digitised communications system so they can share information, photographs and intelligence with each other.
It would also add to the raft of safety measures implemented by the BID (Business Improvement District) and other partners to ensure Stirling remains a safe and secure city.
Under the Shopwatch scheme, the BID plans to facilitate and subsidise a digital radio system for Stirling’s retailers, café owners and any other interested business owners.
Businesses are invited to register their interest now with a view to launching the project in the coming months.
The move would link day-time businesses with each other – plus the police, the Thistles and the city’s CCTV system – in the same way night-time venues are linked through Pubwatch.
Being part of a shared radio scheme means retailers can work together and warnings of criminal activity can be efficiently communicated between members.
Danielle McRorie-Smith, Project Director at Go Forth Stirling, said: “We’re planning to launch a Shopwatch scheme for the day-time economy which we hope will be just as successful as the Pubwatch initiative has been for our night-time businesses.
“This is an important investment which will make a significant difference to communication between businesses, help build confidence in Stirling’s economy and enhance its reputation as a safe city.”
The BID already works with Retailers Against Crime (RAC) to provide business owners with the successful SentrySIS crime-reporting platform – an initiative which is now also being extended to Pubwatch members.
And over the past year, Go Forth and RAC have hosted a number of meetings to listen to concerns from retailers and other business owners about shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
Ms McRorie-Smith added: “Shopwatch is a great community-based scheme which would give retailers the capability to work together in a quick and secure fashion to help make our city as safe as possible.
“We have a great café culture in Stirling and a wide range of national and independent retailers and they could really benefit from being linked and able to easily communicate any problems with each other.”
Go Forth would subsidise a network of two-way radios for BID levy payers who want to join a Shopwatch scheme and organise a training and information session for those interested in getting involved.
Meanwhile, the BID continues to work with RAC to give independent traders access to the SentrySIS crime-fighting system which allows members to report incidents so they can warn others and create evidence logs to help police detect offences.
The BID also supports the charity Safebase whose volunteers patrol Stirling providing first aid and a safe environment for anyone visiting the city at night.
Ms McRorie-Smith added: “The BID and our partners really do take safety in Stirling seriously working proactively on a series of collaborations to ensure we remain a safe city.
“We are keen to see businesses working together in a practical way to protect each other and strengthen confidence in Stirling as a place to visit, work and invest.”
Any business owners who want to register their interest in being part of the Shopwatch scheme and find out more about the plans should email admin@goforthstirling.co.uk
Go Forth Stirling BID represents more than 600 business owners with a key objective of increasing visitors to the city and devising initiatives to help make it a more welcoming environment for businesses and shoppers.
For more information, visit www.goforthstirling.co.uk
