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Shopping Centers Today -> June 2001
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SECURITY/PR EFFORTS PAY OFF
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| Public relations is now a key part of a security officer’s job. |
Media frenzy dying down, experts say
"At a time when national crime rates are dropping, many people are surprised to learn that there’s a crime problem in malls at all. The misperception persists that malls are somehow a sanctuary from the real world. But in fact, the average shopping center today has significantly more crime than its 1978 counterpart." — from "Danger at the Mall." Good Housekeeping, February 1998
By Debra Hazel
Not that long ago, the headlines were frequent and loud: "Keeping Safe in the Mall." "Malls and Crime." Larry King even dedicated an hour-long television show to the subject, and a commercial for a TV home shopping network showed a shadowy figure with a gun in a mall parking lot. The tagline: "Shop Safely. Shop at Home."
Recently, however, the shouting has turned to silence. While a computer database search of stories over the last year on mall security turned up several articles related to specific incidents at shopping centers, few dealt with mall crime in general. Industry marketing executives report a marked decline in media calls questioning mall safety in the last two years. Shopping center marketing and security experts cite several reasons for the change:
- an improved relationship between the media and mall marketing staffs that has educated reporters about mall safety;
- an actual decrease in crime in centers related to technological improvements and societal trends;
- media boredom with the story.
Perhaps the greatest factor is the improved relationship between the shopping center industry and the media, as industry executives realized the need to communicate the facts regarding center safety. In one notable example, Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va., began publishing quarterly crime statistics, distributing them in the center and to the press. And ICSC’s Public Relations Task Force, formed in 1994 at the height of the media feeding frenzy, made educating reporters about shopping center security a priority.
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| A $1.5 million security command station is front and center at Westfield Pavilion, Los Angeles. |
"Malls are doing a much better job at individual centers to get the story out," said David Silver, president of Silver Communications, West Bloomfield, Mich. A former reporter and shopping center marketing executive, and an ICSC PR Task Force member, Silver specializes in training industry managers to communicate with the media.
One of Silver’s clients is Columbus, Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust, which has retained him to train all of its mall managers and marketing directors in improving their relationships with the media. Such training is highly recommended by security experts. "As a media coach, my role is not only to train shopping center executives to communicate with the media and help them deal with issues such as safety and security; we take the initiative to spend time with the media and show them our centers," Silver said.
Establishing relationships with news organizations before possible incidents can help set the record straight earlier when something does happen.
Part of Silver’s training also focuses on improving relationships with police and fire officials well before any potential incident occurs.
"They have to deal with the media, also," Silver told a recent class at Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, N.J.
In the past that has been a problem, said David Levenberg, vice president of corporate security and loss prevention at Chicago-based General Growth Properties. One false rumor about crime at a center was traced to a police officer who heard it from a friend.
Fortunately, the mall security story that marketing professionals are trying to get out is a good one: Always less crime-ridden than most downtowns, shopping centers are now even safer than before.
"When we had all that media attention, owners did step up and do more regarding security in the centers, adding everything from closed-circuit television to call boxes to increased staffing. There also is a greater awareness with police department substations in centers. Five years ago, they were not doing a lot of those things," Levenberg said.
Most center owner/managers have invested major sums in both staffing and equipment to improve safety and, even more important, the perception of safety.
"We’ve been increasing light levels; we have a lot of security people," said John P. Hoeller, senior vice president of property management for Glimcher Realty Trust. "At Jersey Gardens, for example, we have an excellent relationship with the City of Elizabeth Police Department. That mall also has 160 cameras in it."
At the King of Prussia mall complex near Philadelphia, bike patrols and other security measures have been increased, and been made increasingly evident.
"We’re working harder on our image, made our security more visible. You see a lot more outside of our building, so shoppers feel more comfortable," said Deane M. Shauger, SCSM, district property manager for Kravco Co., the locally based manager of the King of Prussia center.
In a strange way, increased competition from other forms of entertainment also could have helped the safety perception of centers.
"The mall was a gathering place, the gathering place. We’re still a main place, but now people are going a lot more different places," and must be aware of security there, said Wally Brewster, senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications for General Growth.
Crime is down around the United States, said Jonathan Lusher, senior vice president of consulting and inspectional services for IPC International Corp., Bannockburn, Ill., a security consulting firm. From 1994 to 1999, the violent crime rate steadily declined from 51.2 crimes per 1,000 persons 12 years of age and over in 1994 to 32.1 in 1999, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey.
That is bound to be reflected in mall crime as well.
"Generally speaking, we are seeing that the statistics of [shopping center] crime is roughly the same as the reduction of crime around the country, and that’s been significant," Lusher said.
In addition, crime detection has increased.
"You don’t see people getting away with crimes in centers. There are other places that are not quite as public, and that don’t have the sophisticated security of our centers," Brewster said.
And the press, already having done this story regularly throughout most of the 1990s, also may simply feel enough is enough, some say.
"Time went by, the media got bored, and the story cycled away," said Charlotte Ellis, SCMD, senior vice president of marketing for Raleigh, N.C.-based Konover Property Trust, and a founding member of the ICSC PR Task Force.
That might possibly be because the stories were so intense before, she added.
"To some degree, it became like the wallpaper; it just didn’t register any more," she said.
And the media may have moved on to a new target: schools.
"The school shootings touch people more than a shopping center, and we’ve had mall shootings," Lusher observed. "People think schools are not very safe, when in fact they are very safe. The post office is the same."
And common sense may have set in.
"People realized that people in shopping centers have packages and money, and if you’re a bad guy, that’s a draw," Ellis said. "I think shoppers always knew it was safe."
And the industry has become better at reminding the media that it operates in a larger context.
"Crime is a part of society. People use the safety tips we give out, and we reinforce that you can be a victim of crime anywhere," Brewster said.
Despite the current success, complacency would be dangerous, all say; a single major incident at a shopping center could turn the situation around.
"It depends on the severity of the incident, but one could change the perception of the media. There is no such thing as crime prevention; there is only crime displacement," Levenberg warned.
"Just because we don’t hear as much about the problem, doesn’t mean we should dismantle the programs that control it."
 | Current Issue August 2008 |