Center Stage
18
Walmart
T
he department responds to
several large retailers on an
annual basis for a variety of
offenses that are reported. The
primary criminal offense typically
reported deals with retail thefts.
These calls take significant time
to handle and can pull from field
resources.
Walmart has several retail
locations throughout the city.
Department personnel began
meeting with Walmart executives
to see how stores could partner
with the
agency.
One of the
underlying
goals was to
move from
a reactive
model to
more of a
preventative
role thereby reducing theft
offenses.
The main strategy was to
re-introduce friendly greeters
at the entry and exit points
of the store. Walmart also
agreed to install new electronic
countermeasures such as closed