The Business Improvement District (BID) for Stirling city centre, Go Forth Stirling, has announced plans to introduce a Shopwatch initiative to help retailers tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
The project would see BID facilitate and subsidise a digital radio system that Stirling retailers could use to share information, photographs and intelligence with each other. The scheme would also link businesses with the police, the Thistles shopping centre and the city’s CCTV system. Being part of a shared radio scheme would enable retailers to work together and warn each other of criminal activity.
Danielle McRorie-Smith, Project Director at Go Forth Stirling, said: “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, and over the past year, Go Forth and RAC have hosted a number of meetings to listen to concerns from retailers about shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
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.
Any retailers 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
