About Us

The Retail Crime Survey issued by the British Retail Consortium states that retail crime cost UK retailers £1.4 billion in 2010/11, equivalent to 130,000 full-time retail jobs. This is a 31 per cent increase compared with last years survey. Professional criminals who steal to order and use sophisticated methods to dispose of their gains commit a significant proportion of this crime.  They are frequently involved in other activities including drugs, robbery, housebreaking and fraud.

RAC is a tried and tested model and provides a tool to assist with this problem. Information on crime and acts of violence in the workplace is submitted to RAC by members, analysed, and intelligence bulletins are produced featuring images of the most prolific suspects and circulated to members, crime partnerships and police throughout the UK.

For RAC members, there are proven results clearly demonstrating RAC works in deterring losses in stores and identifying those responsible.

Part of RAC membership includes free training which is available to all members. The training covers the most active suspects and their methods of operation, and includes sections on credit card fraud and counterfeit notes. Footage is also shown on actual thefts/frauds being committed which is highly beneficial to show staff exactly how quickly these can occur. Regular area meetings are also undertaken to ensure stores are kept fully up to date.

RAC recognise the massive losses incurred each year by retailers caused by highly organised thefts in their stores and our primary aim is to assist in members’ crime prevention strategies thus reducing shrinkage, theft (both internal and external) and exposure to risk.  All these issues impact negatively on the bottom line.  As a commercial entity we appreciate the desire to reduce these often un-budgeted costs.  Small improvements in the above areas can result in a significant improvement in margins thus assisting members’ in achieving annual targets.

For RAC members, there are proven results clearly demonstrating RAC works in deterring losses in stores and identifies those responsible. Members benefit is many ways, for example:

• Early recognition and detection of suspects, deterring events before they actually happen
• Reduction in crime and acts of violence
• Reduction in stock loss, therefore increase in profit
• Heightened retail crime awareness through RAC training/meetings
• A safer working environment for staff and customers

In today’s commercial climate, not only are staff, security and loss prevention personnel faced with local area criminals, but they are also challenged by professional travelling criminals who are proving to be prolific throughout the UK. RAC shares information on local criminals who commit crime within our member’s premises and we are also the leading expert in providing intelligence on travelling teams throughout the UK. It is only through the intelligence provided by RAC that such individuals and teams can be detected and activities prevented.

‘The most important and impacting improvement to our security is the joining of RAC. The intelligence provided has enabled us to achieve a 100% success rate of identifying shoplifters this year. This in turn has led to a number of convictions and is a major deterrent. The continuous support and training provided is invaluable. I would recommend joining to anyone and only wish we had joined a long time ago’.

Some examples of this include:

• Members of well-known Glasgow criminal gang identified from footage and images, who were responsible for bulk thefts in Carlisle, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, York & Stockport totalling £9K
• Male and female from Glasgow arrested in Manchester for theft of £12500 worth of goods.
• Members of a well-known ‘Till Dipping’ Team identified from footage by RAC, subsequently arrested and jailed.
• Since the launch in Northern Ireland suspects recognised as travelling from England and Scotland across the water and vice versa.
• Prolific team consisting of 18 individuals from England who travel to commit crime, identified as having visited Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stockton, Middlesborough, Darlington, Bournemouth, Southampton, Newcastle and Dublin.

RAC recognised that there was a requirement to circulate information instantly to members and in December 2010 the member's area on the RAC website was launched. This allows, through a secure connection, instant transmission of information to and from member premises.

The benefits of the secure members area include:

• Up to the minute bulletins on all active suspects
• Latest images of all active suspects
• Reporting ability to submit information and upload images direct to RAC
• No extra cost to RAC members