Shopping Centers Present Intractable Security Challenges

Apr 6, 2007 2:44 PM

Shopping centers remain among the most readily accessible targets for both terrorists and garden-variety criminals, recent industry studies confirm.

Since 1998, more than 60 attacks have taken place at shopping centers around the world, according to "Reducing Terrorism Risk at Shopping Centers," a report produced by the RAND Corp., a non-profit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif.

Last December, the FBI arrested a man for allegedly planning to set off grenades at the 783,167-square-foot CherryVale Mall in Rockford, Ill.

Also in December, the U.S. Department of Justice released, "An Assessment of the Preparedness of Large Retail Malls to Prevent and Respond to Terrorist Attack," suggesting security challenges are widespread.

In a survey of 120 mall security directors, 60.2 percent said that training for security staff at their center has not improved since 9/11 and another 94 percent said that there has been no change in hiring requirements for security officers. Moreover, 84.2 percent said they saw no increase in security spending, with shopping malls in the United States still allocating only 3 to 5 percent of their operating budgets to security.

That translates to about $0.07 per square foot. In comparison, downtown security buildings spend $0.47 for contracted security, according to data from the Institute of Real Estate Management's 2006 "Income/Expense Analysis Reports for Key Property Sectors."

Shopping centers spend even less than apartment buildings, which average $0.08 per square foot, despite malls being identified as possible "soft targets" by the Department of Homeland Security.

"With a shopping center, you open your doors for business in the morning and anyone is able to go in," says Scott Born, vice president of corporate relations with Marietta, Ga.-based Valor Security Services, a firm that works with 180 malls nationwide. "It's not like an airplane where people go through prescreening and there are bomb-sniffing dogs and X-rays."

As a result, shopping center security personnel provide the first and, in some cases, the only line of defense against both terrorists and common criminals. They are also responsible for evacuating properties in case of an emergency. But because the pool of job candidates with previous security experience in shopping centers is so small -- Malachy Kavanagh, a spokesman for ICSC, estimates that there are only about 20,000 guards with a background in shopping centers to serve an industry that contains 48,000 properties -- owners often grab anyone who applies for the job, according to Chris McGoey, founder of Los Angeles-based McGoey Security Consulting and publisher of www.crimedoctor.com

This article is excerpted from "Safe and Sound," published in the March 2007 issue of Retail Traffic, a sister publication. To read the original, longer version of the article, click here

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue