Bundaberg businesses band together to protect their stores from thieves

A frustrated Bundaberg businesswoman and victim of crime has created a social media group for other businesses to help raise awareness around shoplifters who could be heading their way.

Melanice Jacobsen created the Bridging Bundaberg Business to help local business owners keep an eye on local thieves targetting their stores.

Frustrated Bundaberg businesses have banded together to look out for each other as thieves continue to target their stores.

Despite spending hundreds or thousands of dollars installing security cameras and signage, business owners near the CBD continue to be targeted by thieves.

Melanice Jacobsen, owner of confectionary store Cha Cha Chocolate, has created a new Facebook group called Bridging Bundaberg Business to allow business owners to give each other the heads up on thieves targeting their businesses.

“I found after I was identifying people stealing from the shop. I was racing up and down to the businesses I thought these people would target next,” she said.

“I went home and thought of ways I could let people know of what I had experienced, because these shoplifters just skip from shop to shop.

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“I kept saying I was going to do it until we had a bad shoplifting experience in August and I thought that was it.

“From that moment on I thought of the name, how it would work and what would be the requirements of the group, and then launched it.”

Ms Jacobsen said the private group had strict criteria for people to join and its purpose was to help business owners and staff get a head- up of people to keep their eye on.

“Our main priority was to protect and get all the other businesses around who they (the thieves) are, what they look like and who they can keep an eye out for,” she said.

“The group is for business owners only and you have to prove your ABN, so there’s pretty strict criteria and we didn’t want it to be a public “mash-up”. We’ve already had businesses posting footage of shoplifting or crimes happening in their stores.

“We’re finding shoplifting is increasing in the CBD and nearly everyday we’ve got someone in our shop we’re keeping a really good eye on.”

Owner of Cha Cha Chocolate, Melanice Jacobsen, said the group had also created a community among local business owners.

She said the impact of crime on a small business could be devastating.

“For me it’s more about the principle and the protection of our staff,” she said.

“The real cost comes when it’s time to upgrade our security systems. We’ve already had to add another screen and another few cameras which cost us about $1800.

“The cost to business is anxiety; it’s financial burden to upgrading our security screens and I’m sure there are businesses who have had to close down because of it.

“It’s extremely stressful.”

But the group hasn’t just helped keep a sharper eye on potential thieves, it’s also created a community among local business owners.

“There’s businesses from all different parts of Bundaberg and a whole range that have joined,” she said.

“It’s nice to know we can have a bit of a chat about how we’re going and ask how the day has been.

“It’s a really nice platform for all of us to have something in common. We’re all like minded people who want to help protect our businesses and the businesses on either side of us.”

Ms Jacobsen said anyone reporting crime needed to remember police were the first port of call.

If you want to report crime to police you can do so by calling 000 in an emergency or by calling Policelink on 131 444.

You can also call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

You can also report crime online using the online suspicious activity form or through Crimestoppers.