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04
Jul
The hostage negotiator tackling Harrogate's town-centre crime
Since the cost-of-living crisis first hit, rates of shoplifting have shot up, and town-centre crime is a perennially hot topic among retailers.
Two years ago, the Stray Ferret’s Trading Hell survey found that more than three quarters of Harrogate’s town-centre traders saw it as a serious problem, and that rate shows few signs of falling.
It is perhaps a measure of how seriously Harrogate BID takes the problem that it has hired a highly-trained hostage crisis negotiator to tackle it.
Paul Evans was a North Yorkshire Police officer for 30 years, and has talked people down from heights from Malham Tarn to Knaresborough Viaduct.
Now, he’s the BID’s not-so-secret weapon in its fight against business crime.
He told the Stray Ferret:
I was a hostage crisis negotiator for 14 years, and that was all about building rapport, trust and influence. It’s served me very well in partnership working, because it’s all about listening and understanding, which we often don’t do enough of.
I really miss that work, but I can still use that skillset.
Collaborative approach
Mr Evans started his career as a young constable in 1996 and ended up as the longest-serving neighbourhood police officer in the county. As the BID’s new business crime officer, he is hoping to bring crime figures in the town centre down not by chasing criminals – he says he’s getting too old for that – but by using his experience of multi-agency working.
As a neighbourhood police officer in Skipton, he oversaw and developed the Shop Watch retail crime prevention scheme, relaunched Pub Watch, and developed a Rural Watch scheme, which he says continues to go from strength to strength.
He said:
I’m not a security guard – I want to bring in best practice to tackle Harrogate’s business crime. My approach is preventative.
My forte is bringing partners together to solve problems. For example, after lockdown, every man and his dog discovered Upper Wharfedale, and it became pretty much gridlocked. So we brought together the police, the BID, Bolton Abbey, Fire and Rescue, Craven District Council and the parish councils and set up a visitor working group to tackle things such as parking, anti-social behaviour and litter. It was very successful.
It’s this kind of collaborative approach that Mr Evans wants to deploy in Harrogate, with a Business Crime Reduction Partnership.
He said:
If we all come together, we can be a lot more effective than we are when we’re all working in silos, which people do, a lot.
We need to understand the problems from other people’s point of view.
Paul Evans has spoke to 30-40 retail businesses in Harrogate town centre about his plans to tackle crime.
ShopSafe app
He’s only been in the job a month, but has already made an energetic start, meeting potential partners in the police and council, and speaking with “30 to 40” town-centre retailers.
He’s been preaching to them the benefits of a new ShopSafe app, which he’d like to see all BID members adopt. It would enable shopkeepers to share information immediately, such as suspects’ descriptions, details of people who have been banned from certain premises, and even CCTV imagery.
Mr Evans said:
Ultimately, we’re looking at a one-stop reporting system, so that shops can report incidents via ShopSafe, and we can then press a button and fire it off to North Yorkshire Police. It’s being trialled in York, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to introduce it here.
At the moment, there’s a perceived lack of policing presence, and that’s led to less reporting of incidents – people think ‘what’s the use’?.
I understand how North Yorkshire Police work, and how limited they are in terms of resources, but if you’ve ever tried to report an incident of shoplifting over the phone, you’ll understand retailers’ frustration.
Measures of success
His ideas – and the collaborative work required to get them off the ground – will take a while to take root, but once they do, Mr Evans feels confident he can make a real difference to the way retailers and residents feel about their town centre.
He’ll be keeping his eye on several measures of success.
He said:
If we have a fully funded app, a fully functioning business crime reduction partnership, regular interaction with Pub Watch and Shop Watch, regular feedback from pubs and shops, and an increase in the amount of incidents reported, then we’ll be doing alright.
I also want us to get Purple Flag accreditation, which indicates a vibrant and safe nighttime economy. York city centre has just been given it – and if York can get it, why can't we?
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