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Key issues in shopping complex security

A large proportion of our lives is spent in our workplace, or alternatively, at home relaxing and sleeping. Our security in both these areas is an important factor and large amounts of money are spent on workplace and domestic security arrangements. However, a further activity that we all engage in is shopping and entertainment, much of which takes place in modern large shopping complexes in different parts of the country.

It stands to reason that we should be concerned about the security in these centres given the amount of time we and our families spend there. In some of the larger shopping complexes, it is quite feasible for 60 000 people to pass through the complex on a single Saturday, with the rest of the week being constantly busy. There are few other sites with such volumes of people, and value of materials is in one place. If one thinks of a constant stream of Ellis Park `full capacity crowds' passing through your operations on a regular basis, you start appreciating the scope of the operational issues.

I have been involved recently in doing surveillance training in a couple of these complexes and it has opened my eyes to a number of issues in shopping complex security and operations. These shopping centres are part of society and within them, many of the same issues that are dealt with in the wider world need to be taken into consideration. Indeed, in discussions with operations personnel at some of these complexes I was reminded of a previous article on the High Wycombe town centre in the UK and it was easy to draw a parallel between that entire town centre and one of our larger shopping malls. People are the lifeblood of the shopping centre and safety, security, and health issues are key for its effective management and viability. At the same time, people bring many of the security issues that exist outside the complex into it. In this article, I am going to highlight some of the issues that came up in my discussions. These do not reflect what is happening at all centres, and do not necessarily even reflect what should be happening. However, the discussion contains issues that I found interesting in my discussions with shopping complex personnel.

Perimeter security

The concept of perimeter security is key to shopping complexes as much as any operation, if not more. It exists despite the need to facilitate easy public access to shopping areas and it is not possible to implement some of the typical measures found in production or commercial operations. The first perimeter area of concern extends well beyond the shopping complex to the surrounding suburbs. People obviously are not going to visit a place if they have to run the risk of being attacked on the way there, and involvement in community policing forums, metro police liaison, and general concern for the surrounding suburbs and areas extends the sphere of influence for the shopping complex.

Secure parking

Parking then becomes the next major issue as people leave their vehicles in the surrounding parking areas so they can enter the building. Access control through parking payment systems can help here but certainly do not solve all the issues. Physical security walking around the carparks also plays a part. One of the issues here is does one go for your own security or the system of carguards. Personally, I think the provision of complex security in the carparks provides greater professionalism and assurance for parkers and makes for a more pleasant experience, but costs sometimes create a shift to the more informal protection facilities.

CCTV surveillance can be a major benefit in the protection of parking facilities. Obviously theft of and from vehicles are major issues, but complexes also have to protect against a range of other activities within the carparks, including mugging, bag snatching, drug dealing, hijacking, cash in transit robbery and theft of delivery vehicles and goods. Parking by people in disabled bays and blocking the exit of other vehicles are small but common offences that need to be checked. It is a good place to have a combination of CCTV, physical security, and response facilities in place. My reading is that there are parallels between car park crime in the UK and South Africa, but we have a more varied and higher crime level except perhaps for theft of vehicles.

Access control

Once your car is parked, the next perimeter becomes the pedestrian entrance to the complex itself. While many casinos and even some entertainment areas have implemented metal detectors and even X-ray screening at entrances, the volume of people and need to facilitate easy flow makes this difficult to do in a large shopping complex. One approach is to define a security presence at the entrances. If these personnel are armed, it provides a potential deterrent value against armed robbery, while unarmed guards provide possible warnings about developments. A major shooting exchange is avoided wherever possible within complexes. Once again, CCTV provides a unique role in providing footage of people entering and leaving that can be used for identification of suspects. CCTV also allows recognition of problem personnel, whether based on profiling (for instance groups of people wearing long coats that may cover concealed weapons) to recognition of people involved in prior offences.

Protecting people

Inside the complex, precautions need to be taken to protect the visitors and staff. However, the complex does not need to consider only the public walkways. There are many passages, walkways and receiving areas hidden from the general public view which may need to be monitored. Further, open air restaurants often have an interface directly onto the mall thoroughfares and the potential for theft needs to be considered in this context. Signs of pick pocketing, bag snatching, auto-teller theft and potential robbery need to be looked for, while identification of known shoplifters may provide proactive warning to those in the stores within the complex. Public violence threatens customer usage and most malls are likely to clamp down on this quickly. Likely conflict areas outside bars and clubs become the focus of attention at certain hours of the day when fights are more likely to occur. A more modern role of virtual babysitting is one of the more unusual duties increasingly being handled by security at shopping complexes, as parents drop their teenage and even younger children off at the mall and then proceed to their own engagements for the day or evening.

Most of the bigger stores and facilities such as banks are likely to have their own security provisions, but these inevitably interact with the complex security. Panic situations, medical emergencies, fire, shoplifting and theft of customer belongings all are likely to come through to the complex control room to be acted on. Tracking offenders and apprehending them are expected from security and sometimes this may be aided by in-store security. For smaller stores, the complex security is often the only formal security in operation. A presence on the complex floor generally allows quick detection while CCTV can be used to follow, pick up, or identify a person for evidence purposes.

Value systems

It is interesting that the mall is generally perceived as a 'safe place' by many parents. While armed robberies do occur at the shopping complexes in South Africa, these are generally infrequent and gain attention in the press because of this. Other crime patterns are probably lower in the malls than the other places people go as part of their daily lives. My perspective is that the characteristics of security at the malls is part of the value systems that the complex management want to project. Where there is a strong family environment emphasis, security will tend to shape itself around these values and appropriate activities.

Similarly, an upmarket shopping emphasis will reflect itself in a similar security emphasis. Given the levels of crime in the broader environment, the shopping complexes have a challenging role in providing safe and secure shopping and entertainment environments. The ones I am familiar with generally seem to have done well in responding to the security aspects. It is important that they do so and continue to develop their security strategies - most of us will be affected in one way or another if they do not and where we go to shop will be determined by our confidence in what complex security are doing.

For more information contact Dr Craig Donald, Leaderware, sales@leaderware.com, www.leaderware.com

Dr Craig Donald is an industrial psychologist and specialist in human factors in security and CCTV. He is the co-developer of the Surveillance and Monitoring Assessment Exercise (SAMAE) for the selection and placement of CCTV operators and presenter of the CCTV Surveillance Skills training course. He can be contacted on telephone: 011 787 7811, fax: 011 886 6815, or e-mail: craig.donald@leaderware.com

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