Strategies often employed by law enforcement agencies to prevent attacks — like metal detectors, armed guards and bag screenings — may discourage consumers from heading to the mall, during a period when malls are losing shoppers (nearly a 7 percent drop from last year at this time, according to ShopperTrak), largely to online retailers.
So mall operators are increasingly turning to subtler, less visible measures to keep a watchful eye on the activities of shoppers.
“There is that careful balance between making people feel safe and the infringement on civil liberties,” said Matthew W. Horace, chief security officer of FJC Security Services, a private security firm. “Would they rather feel safe? Or do they want to see armed guards with machine guns and berets? That’s the balance that we all face with safety.”
Mall operators now offer emergency evacuation training sessions for staff members. They have also added to security staffs; installed shatterproof windows and bomb-resistant trash cans; and expanded closed-circuit television security systems. Malls increasingly invite local emergency response teams to speak to their staffs and to use the facilities after hours for practice drills. Some are turning to the very shoppers they hope to protect, encouraging them to report suspicious activity on social media outlets like Twitter.
Spying on Americans has reached malls & movie theaters, how long before it reaches supermarkets and our homes?
Currently, DHS partners with a number of shopping centers, including the Mall of America,Walmart, Simon Property Group, and the Building Owners and Managers Association, to raise public awareness of indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime, and to emphasize the importance of reporting suspicious activity to the proper local law enforcement authorities.
Proof that DHS plans to spy on everyone, everywhere:
DHS provides materials and training to malls.
DHS partners with Simon malls
DHS is coming to hotels, malls.
As DHS’s Working together to keep shoppers safe webpage reveals: “Every day, malls around the country work closely with DHS, FBI and state and local law enforcement to keep shoppers safe. This year DHS, is partnering with a number of communities across the state of New Hampshire as part of our If You See Something, Say Something campaign and displaying materials encouraging shoppers to report suspicious activity to local authorities.”
Even for malls still in development, DHS security measures are part of the planning. For example, construction is expected to begin next spring on Empire Outlets, a 340,000-square-foot retail center planned for Staten Island, yet the developer is already weighing security issues. The complex, designed by SHoP Architects, will include 125 outlet retailers, restaurants, cafes, a 200-room hotel and a 1,250-space parking garage.
BFC Partners, the mall’s developer, is considering ways to incorporate smartphone technology into its plan. In addition to security guards, the mall will have hundreds of security cameras monitoring the complex.
There are 115,616 retail (SPYING) centers in the country, according to CoStar, a real estate information company. Privately owned and operated, many of them have become de facto downtowns that house post offices, banks, indoor playgrounds, churches and, in some cases, a satellite city hall.
Civil liberties advocates worry that if American malls turn into fortresslike structures where shoppers are profiled and monitored at all times, the places that double as city centers will become tightly controlled by private businesses that would profile customers continuously.
Retailers commit to working with law enforcement:
The National Retail Federation leads the retail industry’s partnership with law enforcement, working with local, state and federal agencies on developing “active shooter” guidelines with DHS.
The trade group is the world’s largest retail trade association representing retailers of all types and sizes in the United States and more than 45 countries. Retailers operate more than 3.6 million establishments in the US that support one in four US jobs — 42 million working Americans – and contributed $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, the association said.
http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/industry-news/single-article/retailers-commit-to-working-with-law-enforcement-in-response-to-terrorist-attack/b00410f5a624d7534bca38c9c38aaa24.html
DHS installing license plate scanners at shopping malls:
Freehold Township has used a $285,000 grant from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness to install license plate readers on the mall’s entrance roads in order to enhance security at the regional shopping destination. (Click here to see the video)
The Township Committee authorized the acceptance of the grant in 2010 and officials said the funds would provide for continued safety and security in the township in conjunction with the mall.
The license plate readers are attached to a metal arm that hangs over the mall’s entrance roads. There are entrances from Route 9, Route 537 and Business Route 33.
According to a 2010 article regarding the grant, when a vehicle passes a license plate reader, its license plate will automatically be scanned by the machine and sent to a central computer.
A “hit” on certain license plates could elicit a response from law enforcement authorities.
Freehold Township police Lt. Dean Smith said the license plate readers will be used to enhance mall safety and security.
http://www.app.com/article/20130808/NJNEWS/308080116/?nclick_check=1
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http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2013/11/shopping-malls-are-encouraging-shoppers.html
Take your “See something, say something” propaganda and shove it up your ass!!!
“Shopping malls are encouraging shoppers to use social media to spy on citizens”
If they willingly accept the role of being a “citizen”, then they deserve to be spied upon.
But for we nationals, what NC said.