Grippa Clip

Grippa 2, led by Paul Ekblom with Co-Investigators Lorraine Gamman and Kate Bowers from the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London, was linked to the AHRC-funded Turning the Tables on Crime project. The Design Against Crime Research Centre (DACRC), in partnership with the UCL Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science and Elisava School of Design (Barcelona), worked with bars in London (JD Wetherspoon) and Barcelona (Glaciar and Horiginal) to assess the usability of the latest DAC bag hanging Grippa design prototypes. This assessment focused on both bar customers and staff. 

The clips were trialed in partnership with JD Wetherspoon and All Bar One, which led to further improvements in the anti-theft clip design and the development of additional measures, including communication and service designs for the hospitality industry. Evaluative mechanisms were also established to measure the design's effectiveness. 

In 2010-2011, the latest version of the Grippa clips was trialed in collaboration with the Design Council, British Transport Police, and a major café retailer, yielding very positive results. 

Impact

In July 2008 the two favoured designs were installed in two pilot bars in London and two in Barcelona. New ventures were explored with Selectamark to create further inexpensive and viable solutions for those bars unwilling to invest to protect customers. The team also produced the paper Theft of Customers’ Personal Property from Cafés and Bars in the ‘ProblemOriented Guides for Police’ series, commissioned by Rutgers University and written by Design Against Crime and Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science (published by the US Department of Justice in 2010: www.ucl.ac.uk/jilldando-institute/sites/jill-dando-institute/files/cops-grippa.pdf). It is still available internationally and is downloaded regularly. Its primary use is in the training of police officers.