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Cambridgeshire Distraction Burglary and Rogue Trader Taskforce: an
The Cambridgeshire Distraction Burglary and Rogue Trader Taskforce was established in August 2001. The Taskforce aimed to reduce the problem of bogus callers and rogue traders by reducing the opportunities for crime by raising awareness of bogus callers and rogue traders in the community; by reducing crime by educating older and more vulnerable members of the community to adopt security measures; and by reducing fear of crime by identifying, targeting and improving home security of vulnerable members of the community.
Title: Cambridgeshire Distraction Burglary and Rogue Trader Taskforce: an evaluation
Authors: Nathalie Collomb-Robert, Sarah Williams, Louise Moore, Maria Tortoriello (Home Office)
Number of pages: 37
Date published: January 2006
Availability: Download full report 
PDF 377Kb
The Taskforce developed a wide range of initiatives. The evaluation took place between January and May 2003. It concentrated on key initiatives and the Taskforce's most innovative aspects which were: the multi-agency setting; the publicity campaign; the Net-Detectives activity; and the Awareness Days - an initiative concentrating on older people.
Components of the Taskforce's activities
Analysis of statistical data
Although the volume of distraction burglary is low compared to some other crimes, the high impact of the crime means it can be viewed as a priority.
Victim profiling illustrates the need to target initiatives to 'at risk' individuals.
Victims do not lack security measures but may fail to use them.
Those living alone, and particularly those living in accommodation usually associated with the elderly population such as bungalows, are at risk and should be targeted for initiatives.
Repeat victimisation also seems to be an issue so victims must receive ongoing attention and support.
Offender profiling shows that a wide range of methods are used to commit distraction burglary, and education campaigns should reflect that.
Multi-agency working
The Taskforce was set up at a time when distraction burglary and doorstep selling had been nationally identified as an important issue.
The harmful nature of the crime along with personal commitment to preventing it played a significant role in convincing agencies to join the Taskforce.
The first step towards establishing a group involved the police inviting a wide range of agencies to a seminar to discuss the possibility of forming a multi-agency Taskforce. Once agreed, subgroups were set up with a thematic lead.
Quarterly Taskforce meetings were held to discuss and agree the way forward for each initiative, while each subgroup met on an ongoing basis to implement their initiatives.
It was a police-led Taskforce, which was accepted by members as a natural consequence of the nature of the project.
Factors explaining why this multi-agency group was viewed as a success included:
its organisation (subgroups, project manager, chair);
its shared responsibility by putting the onus on the subgroups;
the people involved (their motivation, expertise);
its size (stronger impact, inclusiveness, improved communication, expertise and consistency, better funding).
There were still areas for development.
Some agencies lacked commitment by their absence from the Taskforce (some commercial organisations).
The limited amount of time some members were able to dedicate to the Taskforce's work.
Publicity campaign
A 'multi-product' publicity campaign was launched by the Cambridgeshire Taskforce to raise awareness of distraction burglary.
The campaign was focused on the 'second generation – anyone knowing, related to, living near, working with older people – as a mechanism for effective communication with older people.
The employment of marketing professionals was felt to ease the pressures associated with delivering a publicity campaign.
Areas for development included:
focusing on a wider audience within the second generation to improve awareness;
developing more evidence-led approaches;
convincing the media that crime prevention messages are beneficial and carry more weight than sensational stories about victims to influence behaviour change.
Net-Detectives
An ex-Cambridgeshire policeman had previously developed and run web-based activities designed to deliver lessons on crime prevention to children.
Net-Detectives was developed by Childnet International to increase awareness of distraction burglary among grandchildren.
As well as enhancing awareness of crime prevention and the police, web-based activities reached a large audience, and assisted schools in meeting their curriculum requirements.
Net-Detectives could successfully raise awareness of distraction burglary and rogue traders among 11-year-old school pupils. The likelihood of success is increased by one-to-one contact with criminal justice professionals.
All aspects of an intervention – technology, format of supplementary materials, task length – need to be tested by schools in advance to ensure that the activity runs smoothly.
Young people are more likely to convey information on crime prevention to their parents than to their grandparents.
Awareness Days
The aims of the Awareness Days were to:
raise awareness of distraction burglary and bogus callers among older people;
provide older people with simple steps to deal with callers at the door;
promote the use of security measures to prevent distraction burglary.
The main components of Awareness Days were:
communication of the distraction burglary message;
entertainment;
hot lunch.
The Awareness Days were generally seen as the most successful initiative by the Taskforce members.
The events were highly appreciated and enjoyed by the participants.
40% of the respondents indicated they would take at least one extra security measure as a result of their attendance at an Awareness Day.
Nearly three-quarters of the attendees who filled in the evaluation form indicated that their confidence had increased after the Awareness Day.
Awareness Days presented other benefits.
Addressing the issue of under-reporting.
Communicating other safety messages.
Media coverage.
Conclusions
The Taskforce
Many factors explain why this multi-agency group was viewed by its members as a success including its organisation (subgroups, project manager, chair), its shared responsibility by putting the onus on the subgroups, and the people involved (their motivation, expertise). Areas for further development were also identified that are likely to be a consequence of the low volume of offences. These include capacity issues arising from the absence of full-time staff, and difficulties getting commercial organisations and key professionals on board.
The Taskforce implemented a wide range of initiatives such as:
a multi-product publicity campaign with a second generation focus;
a web-based activity, Net-Detectives, designed to deliver lessons on crime prevention to the third generation;
Awareness Days to provide older people with simple steps to deal with callers at the door and to promote the use of security measures to prevent distraction burglary;
a number of other projects such as 'No Cold Call Areas', engaging with stores, professional packs, 'Training the Trainers', a website/database and 'One Number for All'.
Some initiatives were more successful than others in terms of raising awareness about distraction burglary and rogue traders.
Raising awareness of the second and third generation
It is difficult to evaluate the success of the publicity campaign aiming to target the second and third generations. Analysis of a small sample of respondents to a questionnaire at train stations suggested that:
few were aware of the wider publicity campaign (launch, buses, railway station posters);
the leaflet (and presumably therefore the poster if it was read) would inspire nearly half of people to consider raising the issue with older people.
Thus, while the publicity materials go some way in communicating the message on distraction burglary, further efforts are needed.
The messages in the publicity campaign will be reinforced by the professional pack and Training the Trainers, allowing the 'non-related' second generation to pass on messages. Most importantly this will be on an ongoing basis, as research evidence and the Taskforce's experience show that messages need to be regularly reinforced.
The Net-Detectives initiative aimed to encourage children to communicate messages to grandparents. Although the children had clearly learnt and remembered the distraction burglary messages, there was little evidence that they had translated them into action by passing messages on to grandparents. Thus, whilst web-based initiatives would clearly be successful in conveying crime prevention messages that related directly to the children, e.g. their personal safety and engaging youths with the police, other methods might be more successful in targeting the third generation.
Raising awareness among older and vulnerable people
The Taskforce saw the Awareness Days as a success. The days were enjoyable, and a large number of participants referred themselves to the Shrievalty Trust Cambridgeshire Bobby Scheme and/or said they would take new precautions as a result of the days.
Discussion on tackling distraction burglary
The evaluation demonstrates that tackling distraction burglary is a major task for several reasons. Firstly, any Taskforce or organisation wishing to tackle distraction burglary has to develop a robust business case. Because of the nature of the crime, tackling distraction burglary is a rather expensive area of crime reduction, in particular due to the low level of offences being recorded by the police. There is always likely to be some suspicion as to whether money spent on addressing distraction burglary could be more effectively used in tackling other, more frequently occurring forms of burglary.
Secondly, distraction burglary is one of those crimes that are widely known as being under-reported. Obviously, this has some impact on the point made above and goes some way in supporting the need for interventions. It also creates problems for those evaluating the impact of projects attempting to tackle such offences. A reliable baseline cannot be confidently identified. Trends in distraction burglary may also be influenced in different ways, which makes it difficult to set clear aims. For example, the project: can lead to a reduction in distraction burglary; can have no impact on the level of offences being committed; or may lead to an increase in offences as victims become more willing to report. The first and the last options may be viewed as positive. However, properly evaluating them remains a significant task.
Thirdly, because of the under-reported nature of distraction burglary, it is difficult to identify the characteristics of victims and/or offenders. This point leads, finally, to a difficulty in accurately targeting interventions. Although there is substantial evidence that distraction burglary victims are typically older people, it is important for any project to recognise that it does not mean that any old person is a potential victim of a distraction burglary. Equally, an 85-year-old woman (the most common victim of this crime), if bright and still very much alert, may be less at risk of being a distraction burglary victim than a forgetful 60-year-old male. Old age may be a common denominator for most victims of distraction burglary but local knowledge has to be used in order to identify those who are likely to be the most vulnerable when opening the door. This is one of the reasons why it is essential to gain a good understanding and knowledge of the local population and why it is also essential to draw agencies into the Taskforce that will have some understanding and knowledge of the relevant issues.
The full report draws together recommendations for practitioners from throughout the report. It is important to recall the objectives of the Taskforce in relation to its aim of reducing the problem of bogus callers and rogue traders:
to reduce the opportunities for crime by raising awareness of bogus callers and rogue traders in the community;
to reduce crime by educating older and more vulnerable members of the community to adopt security measures;
to reduce fear of crime by identifying, targeting and improving home security of vulnerable members of the community.
Getting a copy
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Last update: Friday, August 10, 2007