This is ridiculous.. Slow response time.

[boredelmo]

I'm at the convenience store in the mall right now. I had a guy in a black hoodie, with the hoodie over his head walk in.

He was reading the magazines...no one reads our magazines, they're a year old because we stopped selling them. He was there for 25 minutes before i get free enough to ask him to leave (store policy, as per my boss and owner)

He doesn't and instead threatens me and curses. I call security. The guy is still in the store. Some friends of mine walk in and I ask them to stay in the store to wait with me for security. I call security again, no answer. I call a third time (its been 9 minutes since i first called, they are only in the floor above mine).

It's been 20 minutes now since the initial call, the guy is out the store but still in the general mall area. No sign of security.

I'm still here waiting for security......now its been 25 minutes...time for a fourth call.

 

[boredelmo]

This is bs. I just ran around the mall to find the security guard. He was sitting in the food court with his radio off. Not cool. I know the head of security and he's off today I'm calling his personal number.

 

[JWarren]

Just wow.



-- John

 

[3/325]

It's cool. I'm sure the mall is a "gun free" zone, right?

 

[boredelmo]

It's on campus, of course.

 

[Rokyudai]

You need the "Sergeant of a three-man Rapid Tactical Force". I dare not say his name for fear he may appear on his modified electric cart.

Call the police if you feel you are in danger!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

When seconds matter, security will be there in minutes.

 

[Old Fuff]

I go with the suggestion: If security doesn't respond, call the police. Then when the "Head of Security" is available tell what you did, and why. Tell him that when there is a possible emergency you expect a fast responce. If he/she can't make that happen they need to be replaced.

 

[cambeul41]

When seconds matter, security will be there in minutes.

Or maybe not.

 

[btg3]

As posted in another thread, mall security is often not armed and has no responsibility to thwart violence beyond calling the police. Any details on security at this particular mall?

 

[DomMega]

Yeah, all security does is look for crime and then call the cops. They don't get paid to do much more than that, at least at a mall anyway.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Official "security" these days is oft illusory, a feel-good sham. But that's a reality which we have to be prepared to deal with nonetheless. It is always unfortunate when reality intrudes in official victim disarmament zones, but they exist and have to be accomodated like any other hazard that cannot be avoided.

Do you have a campus police force as well as your so-called security? It might be well to put them on speed dial also, if they are available. Otherwise, whatever law enforcement agency has jurisdiction in your area should be considered as an alternative.

lpl/nc

 

[tepin]

What did you expect? This really shouldn’t be a surprise. The mall security here where I live are high school kids working for gas money. The hard-core security guards are 80 years old, have a set of handcuffs and a pen light.

Next time, save time and call 911 yourself instead of calling secirity so they can call 911.

This is bs. I just ran around the mall to find the security guard. He was sitting in the food court with his radio off. Not cool. I know the head of security and he's off today I'm calling his personal number.

 

[boredelmo]

To be honest, I didn't want to deal with police just for someone loitering and making threats. I get verbal threats all the time while around campus, maybe because of my race or how I look (taller Asian male).

I'd like the think the police are handling something else more important. We do have campus police and I do have them on speed dial just in case.

Security is pretty useless, except for the head. He's Ex-army and hangs around the store with me a lot. I'd trust him with a lot of conflicts. He is licensed to be armed security during certain venues. Theres only one other fellow i'd trust who works most night shifts and he's ex-navy. The others are all 50-60ish years old with serious physical shortcommings (way too overweight, way too skinny, way too short (i'm talking 5ft), or a combination of them all). They are contracted from a big security company. I hope after talking to the head we will be able to get some fresh faces around here.

We are right on the edge of campus which means we are also right near downtown. If you know Austin at all, you know we have a homeless problem, and they all seem to congregate around this mall, esp. if it rains (i.e. yesterday storming!). As far, the head has done plenty well kicking out drunks and abusive panhandlers.

 

[Zoogster]

Nothing new. Sometimes response time is as low as 2-3 minutes (how many hundreds of rounds can you fire in 2-3 minutes for comparison) and other times it can be 15-30 minutes even in the middle of a city because officers are on other important calls.
Sometimes you can even get a busy signal when dialing 911.
However that really should not concern you too much because the supreme court has ruled that the government and police have no duty to protect you several times.

They are there to act as a deterent, and to help chase people down or bring them to justice after the fact. In that way they help to protect law and order, which indirectly protects society. When they are able to provide something more in an ongoing situation consider it an added bonus. Don't expect it.

You could call and report whatever you want, and the police could go get something to eat first if they really wanted to. The department might deal with them if that became appearant later, but they would have broken no laws, and based on Supreme Court rulings you or your surviving family could not even sue for damages over it.

There is higher court rulings from the 70's 80's 90's and 2000's onward that have all supported that there is no duty for police to protect you.

Here is an article on what I believe is the most recent supreme court ruling on it (2005), even by someone with a restraining order against a specific threat:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html

Here is a firearm related video on you tube that highlights a court ruling from 70's that there is no duty to protect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb3rAglRsqU

They can even tell you help is on the way, and have no duty to actualy come.

 

[Boanerges57]

Ah, the Rent-a-cop, we could fill pages about him. Im actually more scared of the armed rent a cop than almost anything else in life. there should be better training and screening and it should be mandatory. Unarmed security is like the british police without the threat of calling for backup There was a mall I was at where the security were riding around on those segway things... I seriously wanted to push his pudgy butt off and run off on the thing. A high speed segway chase would have definitely hit the evening news.

 

[DiN_BLiX]

To be honest, I didn't want to deal with police just for someone loitering and making threats. I get verbal threats all the time while around campus, maybe because of my race or how I look (taller Asian male).

I'd like the think the police are handling something else more important. We do have campus police and I do have them on speed dial just in case.

Security is pretty useless, except for the head. He's Ex-army and hangs around the store with me a lot. I'd trust him with a lot of conflicts. He is licensed to be armed security during certain venues. Theres only one other fellow i'd trust who works most night shifts and he's ex-navy. The others are all 50-60ish years old with serious physical shortcommings (way too overweight, way too skinny, way too short (i'm talking 5ft), or a combination of them all). They are contracted from a big security company. I hope after talking to the head we will be able to get some fresh faces around here.

We are right on the edge of campus which means we are also right near downtown. If you know Austin at all, you know we have a homeless problem, and they all seem to congregate around this mall, esp. if it rains (i.e. yesterday storming!). As far, the head has done plenty well kicking out drunks and abusive panhandlers.

Call the cops, this gives the store a reputation for not putting up with any such BS. Ive worked at many C-stores, and all have had poeple like that, shoplifters, panhandlers, people wanting you to sell them baeer after hours, Tell them to leave and if they dont leave call the cops.

 

[Robert Hairless]

There's a principle you might want to consider: problems that aren't reported to the people who count aren't documented, and problems that aren't documented don't exist and never did exist.

 

[NASCAR_MAN]

To be honest, I didn't want to deal with police just for someone loitering and making threats. I get verbal threats all the time while around campus, maybe because of my race or how I look (taller Asian male).

O.K...specifically what University do you attend and why is it a defacto rule that it's o.k. to threaten you because of your race? Seriously...if this happens, then it is a huge problem and should be addressed - and immediatly stopped cold.

NASCAR

 

[Jaenak]

Yeah, report the Rent-A-Cop to his boss. Second, call the campus police next time. I'd assume the campus police would have a lower response time than the regular Austin police force. If I was to call anyone to take care of a suspicious and rowdy person, I'd skip to the first armed person and forego the unarmed peace keepers. Often times, if the BG sees the "peace keeper" is armed, they'll back down without a word being said but if the guy is unarmed and telling him to get lost, there will be a struggle. Report the Rent-A-Cop to his boss and memorize the number for campus police.