Two very different environments, one shared lesson about safety…

I’ve just come back from Dubai – fortunately, I made it out before the problems started and flights were suspended…

But still, like most trips, it left me with a few stories.

And a few reflections I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

We did the usual things: a day on the beach to recover from the late night flight, a wander through the Dubai Mall – which is less a shopping centre and more a city with shops attached – and a trip up the Burj Khalifa to tick the box.

I made the mistake of wearing tight trousers and new shoes for that one, which turned a world-class view into a lesson in self-inflicted discomfort.

By the time we sat down for dinner, I was more relieved to get my shoes off than I was impressed by the skyline.

The mall itself is something else. Sharks glide past you in a giant aquarium while you walk between luxury stores, fountains erupt outside every evening, and the entire skyline lights up in a coordinated laser show. It’s built to impress, and it does.

But what struck me more than the scale was something else entirely.

Despite the size, the wealth, and the footfall, retail crime is a fraction of what we see in the UK.

Theft exists, of course, but at materially lower levels.

Violent confrontation inside retail environments is rare. Security isn’t expected to intervene physically – it’s intelligence-led reporting, rapid police response, and clear legal consequences.

If someone is convicted, penalties are severe and expatriates can be deported. That creates a very real deterrent.

Over here, the expectation can be very different. Security officers may find themselves dealing directly with confrontation, violence against shop workers remains a serious issue, and police response times can vary.

The contrast isn’t about one system being “better” than another. It’s about how deterrence, response, and culture combine to shape behaviour.

Last week I attended the Resolve UK ASB conference and awards, which brought that contrast into sharper focus.

We had a stand there and spoke to housing associations and local authorities about antisocial behaviour. What was striking was how close their challenges are to those faced by the retail sector.

Prolific local offenders, persistent nuisance behaviour, intimidation, community harm… the same individuals often appear across multiple environments.

One of the areas the housing sector is working hard to develop is structured information-sharing around persistent offenders. Retail has been building those frameworks for the past decade. In that sense, retail is further along the maturity curve.

But the opportunity goes both ways.

If the same high-harm individuals are impacting housing communities and retail environments, then joining the dots across sectors could be transformational. Shared intelligence, aligned responses, and collaborative prevention could reduce harm more effectively than working in silos.

Travel has a habit of giving you perspective.

A week in a city where deterrence is clear and enforcement is swift, followed by a day listening to housing providers discuss persistent local harm, reinforces the same point from two very different angles.

Safety doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from consistency and collaboration.

And sometimes it takes stepping outside your own environment to see what’s been in front of you all along.