Any establishment selling poultry and meat in the run up to Christmas can be vulnerable to burglary and theft.
Police have suggested some simple measures independent meat retailers can take to help to deter intruders and reduce the chance of becoming a victim of crime:
- Be alert to any unusual or suspicious behaviour at your premises, or land near to it. Even phone calls asking which types of meat you stock etc. or anything that seems out of the ordinary.
- Consider perimeter security: Are there weak points where someone could enter without being seen? Do you have secure perimeter fencing/trees/ walls and gates? For large boundaries think about using Perimeter Beam Alarms which can cover long distances and may be cheaper to install than a physical boundary.
- Make routine checks on your boundaries, doors, windows and gates to ensure all access points are closed and locked at the end of the working day. Make sure that windows are locked without keys being left in the lock. Make sure all your external doors have locks one third from the top of the door, one third from the bottom as well as a strong central dead-bolt lock.
- Good security lighting can help deter an opportunist thief, also consider lighting to support CCTV systems. Dusk to dawn lighting is recommended for the front of a premises and movement sensitive for the rear.
- Consider installing security alarms and CCTV systems. Look for companies that have been independently assessed such as those listed at NSI (National Security Inspectorate) or SSIAB (Security Systems & Alarm Inspection Board).
- There are also DIY CCTV and Alarm Systems that can be bought and installed yourself which do not have to be too expensive. When purchasing a CCTV system make sure it has a “live view” facility so that you can monitor the cameras away from the location.
- Freeze branding, hot-branding or tattooing your postcode on products can also help police to identify stock.
- Remember to report any suspicious vehicles or persons on either the 101 non-emergency number or 999 if you believe a crime is in progress.
- Regarding vehicles think: index number, make, model, colour.
- Regarding persons think: height, build, ethnicity, hair colour, clothing, distinguishing features, facial hair, logos on clothing, accent.
The warning comes after meat and cheese worth more than £15,000 was stolen from two locations in Cambridgeshire.
On 11th December between 12am and 2am thieves broke into a storage room in Gamlingay and took £10,000’ worth of food, including turkey, beef, lamb and chicken, which was stored in refrigerators.
In a separate incident on 3rd December at around 6.20pm offenders broke into a property in Bourn and stole meat and cheese worth more than £5,000 from fridges and freezers.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
