‘Everything seems to be pushed onto the businesses’: stakeholder perceptions of the policing of business crime in Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Lamb, John B and Treadwell, James and Howe, Nick and Berry, Geoff and Plimley, Sarah and Bavin, Kyla (2024) ‘Everything seems to be pushed onto the businesses’: stakeholder perceptions of the policing of business crime in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Policing and Society. ISSN 1043-9463

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Abstract

This article concerns the perceptions and policing of business crime in the Staffordshire Police area in England in 2019–2020. Based on collaborative mixed methods’ work analysis of business crime in Staffordshire, it considers the framing of official discourse, and how it is applied and understood in police practice. Using 74 qualitative interviews with small business owners and access to police data, the research team considered how business crime was framed by officials and stakeholders. Noting there is something of a disconnect between officials and stakeholders the paper suggests that this reveals the conceptual and practical limitations of policing business crime as a form of commercial victimisation. This is due, the paper argues, to the conceptual ambiguity of the contemporary official police discourse of business crime which, in praxis is ill-defined and largely restricted to a more obvious form of retail crime. It suggests that greater consideration and conceptual refinement of the varied nature of business and enterprise is necessary if authorities truly wish to recognise the varied ways in which commercial activity and victimisation intersect. Recognising these intersections should enable police and the CJS to provide more effective responses to stakeholders and the wide range of businesses that face varied and multifaceted victimisation.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2024.2362716
Dates:	Date Event 28 May 2024 Accepted 17 June 2024 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Business crime, commercial victimisation, police, small business
Subjects:	CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-01 - social sciences (non-specific) CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-02 - sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice
Depositing User:	Kyla Bavin
Date Deposited:	06 Sep 2024 14:19
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2024 14:19
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15773

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