Protecting Malls from a Terrorist Threat

Protecting Malls from a Terrorist Threat

The suspect in the incident at the Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston, New York, started firing inside a Best Buy store before proceeding into the mall corridor. The man was able to fire 60 rounds from the semiautomatic rifle before running out of ammunition. A store employee subdued him.

During the follow-up investigation, police discovered a videotape at the suspect's home showing the man and two friends producing and detonating pipe bombs—evidence that the incident could have been much worse. (The man has been charged with violating federal explosives laws.)

Mall owners and operators should recognize that these open venues present inviting targets, and they should make it a priority to conduct vulnerability assessments and develop emergency response plans, says Lt. Roger Kelly of the Fairfax County Police Department's criminal intelligence division in Virginia.

Locally, he has seen evidence that they are doing just that. His unit has been called in to do vulnerability assessments

at Tyson's Corner Center, the largest mall in the Washington, D.C., region and the 10th largest shopping complex in the country.

An assessment can often help to determine low-cost solutions. For example, Kelly recommends guarding public access to ventilation systems and employee areas. He also recommends surveillance techniques inside malls and in parking lots that can make security guards and CCTV cameras more visible to shoppers, which can serve as a deterrent.

With regard to emergency response, Kelly suggests that large or multiple-floor malls designate a floor captain on each level or wing of a complex. Each designee can serve as a point-of-contact during emergency situations. And that person can help to distribute timely information and to organize training among stores, Kelly says.

There is a limit to what malls, which must remain open and welcoming places for customers, can do in terms of access control. Individuals are never going to be inspected at malls the way they are at airports. Therefore, the challenge of stopping suicide bombers and explosives detonations comes down to security guard diligence, says Jade Hirt, national manager for staff development with IPC International Corporation.

It is also important that front-line security officers be informed about any terror alerts. “It does no good for us to have the information in Chicago when the front-line people are the people who need to know it because they're the ones who need to look for it,” says Hirt.

Training with targeted information about the new threat is also key, says Hirt. IPC International, which provides security guards and consulting services at more than 400 shopping centers in the United States, has developed a counterterrorism PowerPoint presentation on suicide bombers. This presentation is shown to employees at each field location.

Among the topics covered are lessons learned in Israel on blast patterns of explosives, behavior profiles of terrorists, packaging techniques of bombs, and how a bomber can be recruited.

As for more elaborate security improvements, those run into bottom-line resistance. Like all businesses, retail

operations have limited dollars. Every mall will be asking itself, “Do you invest $100,000 in security or do you use it to promote an upcoming sale?”

But mall owners also appreciate that the risk is real and that ignoring it might cost more in the long run. In the end, says Kelly, “I think there's a great effort by corporate America to come up with ways to address the cost to prepare and prevent versus what it's going to cost post-event and all the liability issues that follow.”

How Should Malls Address Terrorism?

Source: http://www.securitymanagement.com/article/how-should-malls-address-terrorism

If even one American shopping center is targeted by a suicide bomber or other form of attack, all malls will be considered unsafe and will need to reassure the public. For that reason, it is imperative that every mall manager begin to think about how security should respond to an attack.

To help answer that question, I recently went to Israel to see some of the best protected shopping centers in the world. These businesses offer an effective model of how to protect malls in times of crisis. Of course, the threat for U.S. malls is currently remote. Therefore, the point is not to implement these measures now but rather to develop contingency plans so that security can be elevated quickly if the threat profile changes.
Concentric perimeters.

Israeli shopping centers are protected by a series of concentric perimeters. Motorized patrols surveil the exterior area, including parking lots, outside the mall property, supplemented by some foot patrols; and each vehicle that enters the property is subjected to a search.

At pedestrian entrances, each person is also subject to search by officers equipped with explosive detection technology. Bomb detection dogs are now being introduced as well.

The interior is patrolled by both uniformed and plainclothes officers. Surprisingly, the length of time required to enter the property or to gain access to the internal area of malls is minimal, and customers and employees do not find the few moments of extra time an inconvenience.

All security officers are armed. Given the compulsory military service in Israel, the populace is trained in weapons handling and military discipline. So recruitment of security officers with military training is simpler than it is in America. Additional security training is continually provided to the officers.
Plan elements.

The Israeli model, though not directly applicable, offers lessons for U.S. malls that want to prepare contingency plans. The following elements, drawn from the Israeli example, should be incorporated in any such plan--to be implemented only if events warrant a heightened security posture.

Similarly, the plan should consider under what threat conditions the use of explosives scanning technology and/or bomb dogs would be warranted. The plan should also address how this equipment could be acquired in an emergency.

While most measures need not be implemented until the threat profile warrants such action, some properties have already taken more moderate steps to tighten up mall security. More stringent fire lane parking enforcement, guarded access to roof hatches, visible waste containers, and closer monitoring of deliveries and contractors are some of the cost-effective measures currently being adopted.

Many additional individualized mall strategies can be devised. What matters most is not the specific steps but the overall commitment to take reasonable preventive steps today and to have plans in place to handle the worst-case scenario should an attack occur.
Donald W. Story is a former police chief, college instructor of criminal justice, and director of corporate security for two major shopping center developers. He advises malls on how to upgrade security and serves as an expert witness in security liability cases.