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Dec 3, 2008 7:50 pm US/Eastern
South Florida Malls A Convenient Place For Thieves
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
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A shopper's best weapon against potential criminals in a shopping mall is awareness.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Thieves, robbers and muggers are ready to join the shopping crowd seeking their own kind of "deals" as the holiday shopping season gets into full swing.
Police say criminals like to spend time in shopping centers because they have a large number of people, many of them carrying money. Shoppers tend to relax their vigilance because many consider visiting the mall a leisurely activity.
Besides shoplifting, which is the top offense at shopping centers, other common crimes include carjackings; auto parts robbery; stealing cash, credit cards, purses, wallets and jewelry, and even sexual battery.
Pregnant women, the disabled, the elderly and young children all have been victimized.
At a Pembroke Pines shopping area CBS4 Reporter Ted Scouten accompanied police, who stopped suspicious persons near some parked cars. In this case, the people were just putting flyers on windshields.
The patrol is one of many throughout shopping malls watching for people who prey on shoppers during the holidays.
Jonathon was one such victim. He explained how robbers, "grabbed a screwdriver" and broke into his truck while it was parked near a store. They stole his radio, iPod and much more.
Sgt. Darryl Curtiss of the Pembroke Pines police department warns consumers to always be aware and cautious of their environment. To any criminal, the police said they have "absolutely zero tolerance".
Law enforcement agencies and mall security companies have stepped up efforts to prevent crimes during the busiest shopping season of the year, which kicked off with Black Friday and lasts through Christmas.
Mall representatives explain the crucial element in their plans is a good working relationship with local law enforcement, which has trained police officers and deputies ready to take on a shooter if necessary. That training is called Rapid Response training.
Also seen at schools, Rapid Response training prepares road patrol officers who are teamed-up in small groups, to travel into a closed environment to attempt to engage a shooter.
The Broward Sheriff's office SWAT team, for example, trains deputies for rapid response.
Rapid response stemmed from the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999 that left 15 people dead including the two student shooters.
Aside from Rapid Response, many malls have internal security measures including sophisticated camera systems that can track assailants from parking lots into the mall. Many also have alerts that could allow a store to go into a lockdown mode if necessary.
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