A SAFER WAL-MART BY MOTHER’S DAY
Read the full reportAs part of a new national grassroots campaign to make Wal-Mart safer, we are calling on Wal-Mart to improve security at all its stores by Mother’s Day. With millions of consumers shopping at Wal-Mart – 70% of them women – it’s time Wal-Mart did the right thing and made sure Wal-Mart stores are safe as they can be.
“Crime in our parking lots was on a rapid increase in many areas of region ten, Florida, and it was evident from customer count and sales in the evening hours, that people were becoming afraid to visit our stores during those hours.”
Tom Rinehart, Wal-Mart, 1996
For years, public reports have chronicled the terrible problem of crimes at Wal-Mart stores. Horrific reports of rape, murder, kidnappings, robbery and assault at Wal-Mart stores. For many police officials, the issue of crimes at Wal-Mart stores has been “overwhelming:”
In South Strabane, PA: Police Chief Don Zofchak met with Wal-Mart officials in 2004 trying to reduce their calls to the police. "Frankly, it was unbearable…. I've got 26 square miles and God knows how many other businesses to deal with. Their requests or demands for service, proportionally, were overwhelming." [Pittsburgh Post Gazette, March 27, 2005]
North Lebanon, PA: Police Chief Kim Wolfe said that, "If we had known the number of calls [from Wal-Mart], we probably would have considered an increase in officers…. We just had no idea what it would be like. It doesn't matter what time of the day or night; we get calls there." [The Lebanon Daily News, January 27, 2005]
Our full report contains more quotes from police officials.
"a quick search of reported cases reveals that Wal-Mart parking lots are a virtual magnet for crime." *Judge L. Starcher, 2001
Now, a new study of official police reports proves how serious the issue crime of crime at Wal-Mart stores still is for many towns and cities across America. The shocking new report, titled “Is Your Wal-Mart Safe?” is first national study to analyze official police reports of incidents at 551 Wal-Mart stores, as well as compare rates of criminal/police incidents at Wal-Mart and Target stores.
Among the findings of the “Is Your Wal-Mart Safe” study are:
- Wal-Mart stores analyzed do experience a high rate of criminal/police incidents;
- Based on a sample of “high incident” Wal-Mart stores, Wal-Mart stores experience a much higher rate of reported criminal/police incidents than nearby Target stores;
- National estimates indicate that almost 1 million criminal/police incidents occurred at Wal-Mart stores in 2004 – or 2 criminal/police incidents per minute in 2004;
- Wal-Mart could implement roving security patrols at all stores nation-wide at an estimated cost of 4 cents a customer visit.