Modern fears put security front and center

Jan 1, 1997 12:00 PM, LARRY ANDERSON

There was an article in a local business newspaper here in Atlanta with the headline "Crime increasing at area malls." It came out in time to coincide with pre-Christmas shopping hysteria, giving frantic shoppers something else to worry about: whether the gift they just paid too much for would be stolen before they could get it home. The holiday season again this year was filled with dire warnings about crimes against shoppers - and enough real incidents to lend a twinge of remote possibility to even the most bizarre fears.

The gist of the article in Atlanta Business Chronicle was that crime is not restricted to the downtown area in remote alleys after midnight, but can actually happen in broad daylight in the parking lot of a neighborhood shopping mall. (Immediately after the article came out there erupted a minor skirmish among local officials rushing to say that the statistics quoted in the article were not truly reflective of crime at area malls but included crimes that happened near the malls and for which a mall was given as the most easily remembered local address.

The whole issue was forgotten the next week when some of the same local officials were busy responding when a major magazine listed Atlanta near the top of the the list of most crime-ridden cities.)

One local official summed it up: "Rising crime is a citywide problem, not just a mall problem." I found comments in the article about changing approaches to security at local malls interesting. For example, one local mall has added service to make shoppers feel more secure - guards to escort them to parking lots and free valet parking.

It could be that actual criminal activity is not the biggest problem for shopping mall owners and tenants in the mall. A bigger problem is that a perception of crime could keep customers away in droves. So security takes on a two-part mission. It has to keep people safe, and it has to make people feel safe.

The article points out a change in the approach to security targeted at solving the second half of the problem. The change is from a nearly invisible security force - a group dressed in blazers and neckties that speak discreetly into walkie-talkies - to a fully uniformed force with hats and badges projecting a strong, police-like competence and control over any situation. Mark Schoifet of the International Council of Shopping Centers says Malls have taken their security out of the closet and put it front and center.

Should security be invisible or in the spotlight? You could probably get people in our business to argue on either side of the question. Certainly some would say that security personnel and systems serve as high-profile deterrents; in effect, that criminals are less likely to strike if there are uniformed guards at every corner and big CCTV cameras focused on every entrance. But an argument could also be made for more discreet security presence - it can make a criminal complacent and likely to get caught. Also, obvious security measures might detract from a desirable atmosphere; perhaps big armed guards would interfere with a fancy store's decor - strategically designed to put customers in a buying mood. Maybe casino gamblers would rather not think about the fact that their every move is being watched.

Should security be invisible or in the spotlight? The answer to the question is the same as the answer to so many questions in our field of interest - it depends on the application. But clearly if concerns about crime are a dominant fear among the population, security to allay those fears takes on a higher profile. Security is perceived as a solution to the problem. Our work takes on the additional function of needing to be conspicuous.

Four decades and counting "The policy of this publication is that everyone in the industry may make his voice heard in our pages right back to the last row of the business theatre." That's how we introduced ourselves back in 1958 when this magazine began under the title "Fence Industry." Targeting those who manufactured and erected fences and supplies, we continued to publish under the same title for almost 30 years. Throughout the 1980s, the magazine incorporated the words "Access Control" as a subtitle - reflecting an emerging high-growth market that was eclipsing our low-tech origins. In the late 1980s, we changed our name to Access Control and began emphasizing "perimeter access to internal control." We believe the resulting systems approach to writing about security-related equipment has served us - and the marketplace - well. We broadened our scope somewhat in 1995 by adding the words "Security Systems Integration" to our title.

We offer the foregoing quick historical perspective in celebration of this, the first issue in our 40th year of publication. We look forward to the next 40

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