what is washington dc’s police doing standing around inside stores?
March 29, 2008i went to the new mall in columbia heights today (they have a target, a best buy, and a bed bath and beyond). when i left the best buy there was a police officer in his mpdc uniform standing inside the store, checking the receipts of customers leaving the store (a function that is usually done by store clerks or store security staff). when i left the target a couple of minutes later, there too was a mpdc police officer standing inside the store. the same can be found day-in, day-out at the giant, where a mpdc officer is sitting inside the store nearly all the time. it is not that i am against seeing more police on the streets, but this is not on the streets, this is in stores. these stores are not public space (as a lot of stories about malls and stores recently have shown — with mall visitors not being allowed to make pictures or wear the shirts they like) and therefor should be protected by private security guards if those store deem it necessary to have extra security. mpdc is payed by tax payers and the focus of the force should therefor be on protecting all citizens and not just the goods of a select few companies. if those police officers would stand outside of the stores on the streets, they would be able to provide security to the whole neighborhood as well as ensure that criminals who are targeting the stores would be deterred. i would be quite interested to know if this is mpdc policy to have police stationed in stores or if maybe these officers are making an extra buck by allowing stores to cut on security cost?
