Telephone 02 6260 9281
Facsimile 02 6260 9201
GPO Box 2944
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
Address block
Address block
Address block
Dear Business Proprietor,
Survey of business crime and safety
Issues of crime and safety are of concern to many people, and businesses in particular often suffer the
negative consequences of crime. In order to better understand the experiences and concerns of
businesses operating in shopping centres, the Australian Institute of Criminology is conducting a short
survey with businesses in [insert name of shopping centre].
The purpose of the research is to investigate the attitudes and experiences of businesses in the
shopping centre which will help us to understand your perceptions of crime and safety and the levels
of crime affecting your business. Identifying common concerns of businesses within shopping centres
may assist in developing more targeted crime prevention strategies within shopping centres.
Some important things to note:
 Your participation is entirely voluntary
 All information is kept anonymous, and your business will not be identified in any way
 The survey is brief, and should take approximately 10 minutes to complete
 A researcher will drop the survey into your business and will collect it again upon completion.
This survey has been approved by the Commonwealth Government Statistical Clearing House as well
as the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Ethics committee. [insert name of centre] has also given
their support to the survey and you should shortly receive a letter from them encouraging businesses in
the centre to participate.
In the next fortnight I will visit you to drop off the survey and speak with you about any questions you
may have in person. I will then return a few days later to collect the survey. If you have any questions
which you would like to discuss beforehand please do not hesitate to freecall 1800 008 125.
I thank you for your consideration of this important project and hope that you will participate. It is
only through speaking with businesses that we can know about your concerns.
Yours sincerely
Kate Charlton
Crimes against Small Business Project
Australian Institute of Criminology
(02) 6260 9281
kate.charlton@aic.gov.au
7 March 2016
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