Wal-Mart & Crime: Is Wal-Mart Safe?
By Paul Blank – http://www.wakeupwalmart.com
The
Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign recently released the first national study
detailing the problem of crime at Wal-Mart store locations called
“Wal-Mart & Crime: Is Wal-Mart Safe?” We requested the official
police reports (ie. calls for service) from 551 Wal-Mart store
locations throughout the U.S.
The
results are shocking and outrageous. In 2004, at just those 551
Wal-Mart stores, police were called to respond to over 148,331 police
incidents, including over 2,900 reports of serious or violent crimes….
Based
on this sample, nationally in 2004, we estimate police responded to
nearly 1 million reported police incidents at Wal-Mart stores costing
American taxpayers $77 million.
For a complete copy of the report and to view your local police report please go to:
www.WalMartCrimeReport.com
There
is no explanation why Wal-Mart, despite knowing it has a high level of
crime at some of its stores, has not taken the necessary steps to
improve public safety and address the serious threat to customers,
employees and the community.
As
early as 1994, Wal-Mart actually conducted its own crime study and
found nearly 80% of the crimes were being committed in its parking
lots. A 1996 confidential, internal Wal-Mart memo warned, “We are now
on notice of the violence that is happening on our parking lots in the
Houston area.”
And
yet, even with horrific examples of violent crimes and even rapes at
Wal-Mart stores, Wal-Mart has not publicly adopted a company-wide
policy of installing staffed security cameras and instituting roving
security patrols at all of its stores. In fact, according to a Wal-Mart
official in 2000, Wal-Mart failed to put in roving security patrols at
83% of its stores even though internal Wal-Mart studies showed these
patrols could reduce crime to near zero levels.
We
are sending a letter to Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott calling on Wal-Mart to
immediately take the necessary steps to protect its customers,
employees and the community by adopting a nationwide policy to make its
stores safer, including: putting in security cameras at all its stores,
actually having an employee watch those security cameras and
implementing roving security patrols in all of its parking lots.
As part of this campaign, we call on Wal-Mart to announce this new public safety initiative before Mother’s Day, May 14th 2006.
Please sign our letter calling on Wal-Mart to adopt a nation-wide policy to make its stores safer by Mother’s Day:
http://www.walmartcrimereport.com/letter.html
You
have the power to change Wal-Mart and help build a better America.
Please take a moment and pass our new website
http://www.WalMartCrimeReport.com and our new report, “Wal-Mart & Crime:
Is Wal-Mart Safe?” on to all of your friends.
Thank you for all that you do,
Paul Blank
WakeUpWalMart.com
P.S. To download a flyer about the report, click here:
http://walmartcrimereport.com/crime-flyer.pdf
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