Two-thirds of Sussex firms have been victims of crime in the past year at an average cost of £8,000 per company, new figures show.

Burglary and damage to vehicles were the most common type of crime but other problems included graffiti, arson and theft by employees.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said its survey of 2,800 firms across the UK showed crime against business appeared to be escalating.

A third of firms said they had been burgled or had vehicles damaged in the past 12 months.

Half of those questioned said they did not report all crimes to police, often because they doubted it would do any good.

The findings backed up a report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which showed small firms were being hit by an "epidemic" of crime.

A survey of 18,600 small firms found six out of ten had been victims of crime, including shoplifting, burglary and vandalism, in the past year.

Again, many businesses did not bother contacting the police.

At least one in four said their premises had been attacked or vehicles damaged. One in ten had been hit by shoplifting or graffiti and five per cent had been robbed.

More than a third of those polled by the FSB said reporting a crime would not achieve anything and a quarter lacked confidence that the police would catch the criminals.

The BCC said two-thirds of firms in its poll believed a faster police response would help reduce crime.

BCC president Isabella Moore said: "There is a widespread per- ception among our members that crime against business is not taken seriously by the Government.

"Police performance in relation to crime against business is not measured and so the police are often unwilling to divert resources towards tackling the problem."

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "All crimes are treated the same, regardless of who reports it.

"We do not differentiate between crimes committed against businesses and crimes committed against individuals. As far as we are concerned, they are one and the same."

The force has close ties with the Brighton and Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership and last year gave the group £9,000 to help it run a computerised database on criminals.

Thursday April 22, 2004