Making Places Safe
* Crime needs a place to happen.
* Making Places Safe from crime puts focus on the where question.
* It is far easier to develop a security plan for a single place than to figure out answers to innumerable questions about who, what, when, how, and why a crime might occur.
* A rising trend in criminal activity may require some level of intention and action to address the contributing risk factors.
Making Places Safe
Some places are inherently safe. Without any thought, action, or intention required to make them that way. This does not mean that these places are 100% guaranteed safe. Yet, most would agree that it's reasonably safe. These fortunate places usually have several things in common:
* Historically safe geographic area & neighborhood.
* Nature of the premises is low-risk (e.g. single family home versus 24-hour store).
* Daily activity & visitor traffic is low-risk.
* The occupants or users of the place keep it reasonably safe.
Some places can be made reasonably safe by using basic security methods or compliance with regulations:
* For example, minimum standards set forth by building codes, city planning, or business license.
* Private places can limit or restrict access, enforce rules, and use counter-measures like video surveillance, alarm systems, and warning signs.
* Shopping center common area lighting and landscaping can meet minimum city planning CPTED standards.
* Residential structures can meet minimum building code standards with adequate door and window security features & fire safety devices.
* Nightclubs can meet minimum standards by complying with fire marshal building capacity, permitted use regulations, licensing & permits, alcohol service training.
Making Places Safe for People and Property
What happens if circumstances change and compliance with minimum standards no longer provide adequate security?
* A good place to start is to make a new crime risk assessment as a basis for modifying the original security plan.
* A reasonable security plan addresses the specific circumstances of the property necessary for reducing the crime risk.
* No security plan is perfect, but a clearly defined plan shows a positive response to making places safe.
* The security plan must be property-based.
* Every place is different when you consider location, design, size, layout, intended use, traffic, demographics, and activity.
* Corporate-wide security plan may not be adequate to address factors identified in the local crime risk assessment.
* A security plan must be clearly defined and articulated for making places safe.
* It should leverage facility design, and use of hardware, equipment, personnel, and procedures to the extent necessary to make the property reasonably safe.
* A security plan does not have to address a temporary activity center that elevates the crime risk if it can be eliminated as a component of the property.
* A security plan should be dynamic enough to assign different levels of priority for protection of people or property by variables in day-of-week and time-of-day.
Adults using kids to steal like from the book, Oliver TwistTweet This
Adult Shoplifters with Children Challenge Loss Prevention
* Older children usually do not shoplift together with adults.
* Likewise, significant others generally do not shoplift together.
* Adults with infants in large baby carriages sometimes require monitoring.
* Adult shoplifters believe that children nearby makes them less suspicious.
* Do a Google Search of "Walmart children shoplifting with parents Florida"
* Some adult shoplifters will abandon their children in-store to avoid capture.
* Retailers need complex policies how to deal with adult shoplifters with children.
* Difficult to formulate a nationwide shoplifter apprehension policy.
* Legal/practical implications require local detention/apprehension standards.
* Cannot afford to let local police sort-it-out after a family theft apprehension.
* Decisions relating to the prosecution of a family of shoplifters requires caution.
* The criminal justice system can expose a retailer to detention/arrest liability.
* Shoplifters rights often get top priority during the judicial process.
