
DATE: Thursday, November 27, 1997           TAG: 9711270675

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  157 lines

MALLS BEGIN SEASON WITH SAFETY EXTRA POLICE AND SECURITY GUARDS ARE HIRED TO PATROL MALLS AND PARKING LOTS. WELL-LIT PARKING LOTS, SECURITY VEHICLES AND VISIBLE SECURITY STAFF INCREASE SAFETY. ESCORTS ARE AVAILABLE TO WALK SHOPPERS TO THEIR CARS AT MOST MALLS.

A little crime isn't going to keep Hazel Edwards and Nelva Luedke away from the malls this holiday season.

The 66-year-old twins love shopping, and for the most part, they feel perfectly safe in area malls.

Still, they know crime happens, so the sisters take precautions: they put all their buys into one big bag, get their car keys ready before leaving the mall, and look inside and under the car before getting in.

``The worst part is going from here to the parking lot,'' said Edwards, as she shopped for Christmas gifts last Tuesday morning at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach.

Shopping meccas aren't fantasy lands, industry and law enforcement officials say. With so many people and so much cash around, they are bound to attract criminals. And as shoppers rush to malls in the last month before Christmas, the lure for criminals only grows stronger, they say.

But the experts say shoppers' perceptions do not always match the reality.

And the numbers show that malls are, if not crime-free, a very unlikely place for criminal encounters.

In 1996, there were no murders or rapes at the five biggest shopping malls in South Hampton Roads. By contrast, 122 murders and 407 rapes were reported regionwide during the year. The five malls, which draw millions of shoppers yearly, had a total of 19 robberies and eight aggravated assaults.

During the holiday shopping season last year, there were only two reported robberies and one assault robbery at the five malls, which include Military Circle in Norfolk, Greenbrier and Chesapeake Square malls in Chesapeake and Lynnhaven and Pembroke malls in Virginia Beach.

Even the number of property crimes against shoppers remained low during the last yuletide season. The Virginian-Pilot tallied the number of auto thefts, car break-ins and purse snatchings at the five malls.

Lynnhaven Mall, the largest area shopping mall, had the highest number - one auto theft and seven car break-ins, according to police incident reports. Pembroke Mall had the fewest reported incidents - one car break-in.

Rick Polley, mall manager at Military Circle, said he doesn't see an increase in crime during the holiday season.

``Criminals (a) know that malls are increasing security during those months and (b) know that there are more people around,'' he said. ``They'd be fools to go rob someone or steal a car then.''

Perceptions of crime by shoppers ``are a huge concern,'' said Margie Johnson, who runs a retail consulting firm in Virginia Beach called Shop Talk. ``It's not so much that the perceptions are real,'' she said. ``But in our business what the customer believes becomes our reality.''

One or two highly-publicized crimes can ruin a mall's reputation regardless of how many other people come and go safely, Johnson said.

Since Polley came to Military Circle mall in May 1995, he has fought both crime and the lingering perception, created by a few serious incidents, that the mall has a crime problem, he said.

In July 1995, a woman was robbed at gunpoint of money, jewelry and her car in the parking lot of Military Circle mall. Then in December 1995, two men walking through the mall parking lot got into an argument with two men in a car. One man was shot and seriously injured.

``Even two and a half years ago, the perception was out of line with reality,'' Polley said. ``Now, it's just stale.''

Ellen Aleskowitz, 34, who shops regularly at Military Circle, says people only need to go to the mall to see how nice it is.

``It was a little scary before,'' Aleskowitz said. ``But they've done a great job renovating. I always see security - inside and in the parking lot. I feel very safe.''

Polley insists that Military Circle is a safe place to shop and getting safer all the time.

Last year, the mall had 13 violent crimes on its property. All were robberies and assaults. All happened between January and September. As of late November this year, there have only been five incidents - four robberies and one aggravated assault.

More than 5 million people visit the mall annually, according to the mall's records.

Greenbrier Mall had the second highest number of violent crimes - three robberies and four aggravated assaults - last year, behind Military Circle. Pembroke boasted the fewest violent crimes with one reported aggravated assault, which happened in the parking lot at 2 a.m.

``Look at those numbers and compare them to the millions of people who visit the malls every year,'' said Mark Schoifet, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers. ``What is the chance of someone being robbed?''

But proving Schoifet's point is difficult.

That's because there is no reliable collection of statistics that gives an accurate picture of crimes at the nation's shopping centers, said Richard Hollinger, a University of Florida professor who worked on a 1993 study of mall crime published in industry magazine Chain Store Age Executive. The study is one of only two ever done on the subject. The other study was done in 1978.

The 1993 study showed that assaults at the nation's shopping centers increased from an average of fewer than one in 1978 to six in 1993. It also showed robberies rising to an average of 4.5 per shopping center, and the number of sex offenses rising to 1.1.

But Hollinger cautioned that changes in reporting and shopping-center size made comparisons between the 1978 and 1993 figures questionable. Murders were not listed.

Locally, there were limits, too.

The absence of reliable mall-traffic estimates makes calculating a crime rate, which would allow comparison between different size malls, impossible.

But the situation is improving, Hollinger said.

Military Circle, Pembroke and Greenbrier malls were willing to share their crime statistics - something Hollinger says was unheard of five or ten years ago.

Area malls also have in place many of the security measures Hollinger recommends: well-lit parking lots, security vehicles that patrol the lots, visible security staff and close working relationships with the local police departments.

Security officers at Military Circle, Lynnhaven, Pembroke and Greenbrier malls will escort shoppers to their cars - all shoppers have to do is ask, mall managers said.

``A lot of the changes you're seeing are malls trying to send a signal that they care about these issues, that they care about shoppers' safety,'' Hollinger said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

CHARLIE MEADS/The Virginian-Pilot

Pembroke Mall security guard Kevin Pipkin is one of fifteen that

keep on eye shoppers and will escort them to their cars.

Graphic

AT THE MALL

The Virginian-Pilot did a computer analysis of police reports in

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake on violent crimes in the vicinity of

the four major malls in those cities. Police then pulled up

individual cases to determine which crimes occurred on mall

properties.

Military Circle provided its crime statistics because Norfolk

police were not able to identify crimes on the mall's property.