I was reading this article about other cities’ battles with teens loitering around malls and it got me thinking: do we want to discourage teens from going to malls – a place where they can be better supervised? Do we really want to disperse them elsewhere? That sounds like a bad idea.
I mean, while the mall melee was scary, no one was seriously hurt (a credit to our police agencies). And as far as I know, before the fight broke out these kids weren’t committing any serious crimes. Perhaps an occasional shoplifting, but not drug-dealing or shootings.
At the mall, the ways kids can get into trouble are limited. Perhaps the answer is simply to beef up mall security.
Hey, Mark. I’ve really been enjoying your blog since I discovered a month or so ago. Especially as it introduced me to biking the greenways with my kids.
Regarding Triangle Town Center, North Carolina has a slightly law on company police forces: http://www.ncdoj.com/law_enforcement/cle_cjets_programs_company_police.jsp
According to this blog post: http://legeros.com/ralwake/photos/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=561
TTC has chosen to go with just security guards vs. their own police force with arrest powers. I agree with you that the Mall is a safe(r) place for kids to go, but also remember an article from a couple of years ago (sorry, no link) about the much higher # of police calls to TTC vs. Crabtree (who has their own police force). I think Triangle Towne Center should consider investing in more training and creating a police rather than security force to head off these types of situations in the future.
I find it odd that hospitals and malls can have their own police departments, like cities or colleges. Clearly though, your location has issues to address if the situation called for Raleigh PD, Wake Sheriffs, and SHP.
Hey Paul,
Thanks for stopping by, and for reading my little bon mots of wisdom, such as they are.
Yes, I agree that TTC needs police. I don’t think their private security guards command respect. Certainly if the troublemakers were to suddenly get arrested, rather than lectured, I think their attitudes might change.
Crabtree also reportedly has better surveillance, which can discourage these types of events from happening in the first place.
I think we’ll see an increase in both police and cameras as the mall reacts. I get the impression that mall management will do whatever necessary to prevent this from happening again.
Thanks for introducing yourself, Paul! I look forward to seeing more of you on my blog.