Dear Northside Business Community,
Our beloved Northside business community has recently experienced burglaries throughout our district, resulting in damage to property and theft of property from some of our valued businesses.
Reports have also shown that surrounding business communities (College Hill/Clifton/OTR) have also suffered the same unfortunate happenings resulting in the same outcomes.
As a business association, we want to let our fellow businesses know that we are assessing the situation to determine what we can do as an organization to assist our business community, whether it be in the form of assistance to help businesses directly impacted, or by assisting with providing added preventative measures to increase monitoring and potentially avoid these reoccurrences within our business district in the future.
The level of frustration dealing with these occurrences is insurmountable, and as a community, we must remain vigilant in looking out for one another to ensure we protect our community to the best of our ability. Until the police can do their part to find the individuals responsible, we must also take necessary steps to ensure our businesses remain protected.
Here are 10 valuable tips to consider following when protecting your business:
- Post signs on storefronts clarifying that there is no cash left on-site after operating hours or limited cash on-hand.
- Install drapes/curtains to your storefront to shutter after hours to conceal contents within the business.
- Install an inexpensive motion sensor alarm out of reach of perpetrators to potentially deter theft upon illegal entry of premises.
- Consider adding an alarm system with video surveillance that notifies police right away of any suspected burglary. Placing video surveillance at the register and positioned in the front counter are essential in gathering evidence.
- Post signage at the storefront notifying passers-by that your establishment is under 24-hour surveillance.
- Document/report any suspicious behavior:
Loitering.
Individuals glancing around businesses with no clear purpose.
Hanging in areas not normally used as access points to businesses. - Always keep your business well-lit.
- Ensure all windows/doors are locked when business is not occupied. Keep side and rear doors locked at all times and encourage employees/customers to enter through the main entrance so you are able to greet everyone accordingly.
- Maintain a clean environment – it’s good for business and uncomfortable for criminals.
- Place height markers at the entrance/exit of your establishment to potentially gauge the height of individuals illegally entering the premises.
The Northside Business Association will continue to do our part to monitor the situation as things progress, and we will notify businesses of any information we may find, either directly or publicly, through our social media channels. If there are any businesses that wish to share information with us regarding these occurrences, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.
Thank you,
William Walker, President
Northside Business Association
[email protected]