In Security Solutions for Strip Shopping Centers, author and security expert witness Karim H. Vellani discusses risks and solutions for strip shopping center security:
Having outlined some of the concerns at strip centers, it should be noted that the focal point of this article is how to determine the true risk at these facilities, rather than the reasons for the risk. As such, we turn to the way in which risk can be determined.
Shopping center managers face a formidable challenge in determining the true risk at their properties because their addresses are often used by crime victims, witnesses, and even the police to report criminal incidences. Adding to this problem is the fact that many people without phones in their residences use the payphones at shopping centers to report crimes that happened elsewhere. Even crimes that occur on the public street can get reported using the center’s address. These issues necessitate the need to thoroughly investigate each crime of violence to determine the true location.
The most accurate method for determining crime risk at a site is police crime data, which, not surprisingly, is the most commonly accepted method in court. This crime analysis methodology far surpasses the reliability of other methods, such as demographic data and security reports. Crime Analysis, as defined in Applied Crime Analysis, is the logical examination of crimes which have penetrated preventive measures, including the frequency of specific crimes, each incident’s temporal details (time and day), and the risk posed to a property’s inhabitants.