Crime reporting service Facewatch is now being offered free of charge to businesses.

Through a not for profit company, Facewatch & Partners, the online service is now available to all retailers for no cost.

The system was originally trialled in London and has been endorsed by the Metropolitan Police, ACPO and surveillance watchdog site Big Brother Watch. It is also the only CCTV crime reporting system to be accredited by ACPO’s ‘Secured by Design’ initiative.

It enables retailers to quickly report crime that has taken place at their premises and circulate it to the police and other local businesses involved in the scheme. Photos and CCTV footage of perpetrators can also be distributed easily through the system.

Facewatch’s Simon Gordon said the system’s overall goal is to act as a deterrent to would-be criminals.  “My aim is to reduce low level crime rather than just fill up our prisons with offenders,” he said. “To do this I believe we need to create a strong deterrent, and the creation of Facewatch as a national low level crime database which enables all businesses with low level crime problems to be part of the solution at no cost to themselves, is a step in the right direction.”

Retailers interested in getting involved with the Facewatch scheme can do so at www.facewatch.co.uk or by calling 0845 437 9629.