Working with commerce and industry

Bill Moore, Business Manager, Progressive Enterprises Limited, and Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope. Photo: Jane Archibald

Retailers, private investigators, bankers, taxi drivers and the insurance industry were among those represented at last month’s Crime Partnerships Forum for industry held at the Police College.

It was the first time industry representatives had been called together by Police to talk about building a unified front against criminal offending and was met with unanimous approval by those industries represented.

The forum was organised by the National Criminal Investigation Group from PNHQ.

National Manager: Criminal Investigations, Detective Superintendent Win Van Der Velde said there was a clear mandate from those industries represented for a new group to be formed to make better communication between industry and police possible.

“We’ve known for some time that we have needed to up our game in terms of our response to industry and specifically around communicating with them and giving them channels to communicate with us.

“It was a good forum for discussing opportunities where we could both benefit in the future,” Win said.

“There is a clear capability between us to build better networks, and establish a two-way communication that will help us both solve and prevent crimes which directly impinge on their ability to operate and on their customers.”

Where to from here?

As the result of the Crime Partnerships Forum, an industry representative group referred to as the Hub is to be set up, with one person from each industry group offered a seat at the table.

The Hub will be driven by a secretariat which will oversee the distribution of information to and from each of the organisations involved.

“It’s always easy to talk about building better relationships, but it is a big commitment to sustain them and make them productive. This was the first step and I look forward to finding practical, real ways of industry and police reaping real benefits from this work,” says Win.