The chairman’s view on the 2005 Focus on Robbery™ Symposium
20 September 2005

Richard Childs, chairman of the Focus on Robbery™ Symposium, voices his views on the 8th – 9th September 2005 event.

The focus of the 2005 Symposium was to ensure that knowledge and understanding of robbery was based on some rigorous intellectual and academic research and, for the first time, involved very significant and detailed inputs from Portsmouth University.

Building on this input was a practical session on how organisations should make sure, as far as they can, that they have measures and processes in place that will identify areas of high risk from Tiger Kidnaps before they happen. In my experience it was unprecedented to have the panel of experts in attendance who answered questions and debated issues throughout the two days that have been pre-eminent in countering this type of crime in their various careers.

Both the discussion on the academic work and the way organisations were preparing for worst case scenarios were lively and showed a real commitment to take an in depth look at the issues. Many areas were considered and whilst there was some passion in the debate, the end result was a Symposium that exuded real depth and determination.

It is to the credit of the Focus on Robbery™ Symposium that whilst there was input regarding specific anti-robbery products these were limited in number and highly relevant and would clearly make a real contribution to reducing this type of crime.

Overall this annual conference continues to be of the greatest value to those engaged in the fight against robbery and is a ‘must attend’ event for anyone with an interest in this area.

The forward planning committee met on 15th September to review and evaluate the 2005 Symposium and, importantly, to plan for next year – watch this space!

		Richard Childs chairing the 2005 Focus on Robbery™ Symposium
Richard Childs QPM – a short biography: Richard Childs was chief constable of Lincolnshire Police from 1998 to 2003, having previously served with the Metropolitan Police, Sussex Police and Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary in many senior management roles. Richard has a Bachelor of Science Degree and is a fellow of The Security Institute. Richard is now the director of The Community Safety Consultancy Ltd., which provides strategic advice on community safety and crime reduction, the ‘extended police family’, the police service and the private security industry and their constitution and issues of corporate governance and structure to private and public sector clients.

Visit the Focus on Robbery™ section of this site for information on all the topics covered by the 2005 Symposium.

For more information about the Focus on Robbery Partnership, email the IBP team, or call +44 (0)1428 641399.