HOLIDAY RETAILING : These Days, Santa’s Helpers Wear a Badge and Patrol the Malls

With the holidays fast approaching, Margie Todd’s thoughts have turned to gift giving. But the Westminster resident still tries to keep an eye out for trouble when she visits nearby shopping malls.

“You’ve got to be very aware of who’s next to you these days,” said Smith, who shops during daylight hours at Huntington Beach Mall and, occasionally, Westminster Mall. “It’s sad, but that’s the way it is nowadays. I won’t go to the mall by myself at night.”

A better-safe-than-sorry attitude may be out of sync with the Yuletide spirit, but police officials advise consumers to take added precautions as they go about their holiday shopping.

“It’s really unfortunate, but you can’t be as relaxed as you once could,” said Huntington Beach police Lt. Luis Ochoa, who oversees a police substation that will open Dec. 9 at Huntington Beach Mall near the main entrance.

Increasingly, there is reason to be concerned. Precise statistics on crime at the nation’s shopping malls do not exist, but anecdotal evidence gathered by the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York suggests that crime is increasing at the 1,800 malls operated by its members. Not surprisingly, Southern California malls have their share of crime, some of it violent.

Last week, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department teams evacuated the Valencia Town Center Mall as they searched for gunmen who robbed a jewelry store. In July, a 13-year-old girl was shot at Westminster Mall. All told, at least a dozen violent outbursts have erupted at Southern California malls in recent years.

Police and mall operators link the heightened crime to the mall’s increasing popularity as a gathering place.

“Shopping center operators have for years wanted to become the Main Street of America,” said Judy Lapin, a Long Beach-based consultant who advises shopping centers on crisis-response strategies. “Well, now they have it . . . and they have to live with it. They’re not removed from crime that’s just about everywhere else in society.”

Aware that media reports on violent crime can shatter a mall’s reputation, shopping center operators are beefing up their security forces, adding high-tech surveillance gear and inviting police departments to set up shop in highly visible storefronts.

“The days of hiring a night watchman and making him the security director are gone,” said Anna Northcutt, a former FBI agent who directs security operations at 45 malls operated by San Diego-based Hahn Co., including Los Cerritos Center, Plaza Pasadena and The Oaks in Thousand Oaks.

“Five years ago, if shoppers saw a uniformed policeman, they said, ‘Oh, my God, what happened?’ ” said Leeza Hoyt, whose Torrance-based crisis-management firm has helped mall managers cope with the aftermath of riots, gang-related murders and child abductions. “Now,” Hoyt said, “shoppers see the uniform and it makes them comfortable.”

The shopping mall police station is not unique to crime-weary Southern California. Mini-stations have opened up in suburban malls in Harrisburg, Pa.; Pembroke Pines, Fla.; Concord, N.M.; Southfield, Mich., and Houston.

The substations correspond to a nationwide trend toward community-based policing, a crime-prevention strategy that calls for uniformed officers to make themselves visible in the community.

Police decided to open a storefront at Huntington Beach Mall to “establish our presence so (potential criminals) would be aware that we were there,” Ochoa said. “That’s the day and age we live in: No matter where you are, the best way to be proactive is to create a police presence.”

Huntington Beach Mall is also using state-of-the-art technology to safeguard shoppers, in addition to the police presence and beefing up its own security force.

During the holiday season, city police patrol the parking lot on bicycles, along with private security guards. Mall owner MaceRich Co. of Santa Monica installed a sophisticated video and audio security system in Huntington Beach. Similar systems are being added to the company’s Lakewood Center Mall in Los Angeles and Panorama Mall in the San Fernando Valley.

But instead of hiding its television monitors in a back room, MaceRich security personnel operate the system from a highly visible kiosk in the center of the mall’s common area--a move designed to further deter would-be criminals.

Shoppers have endured car thefts and break-ins in Huntington Beach, but the mall has escaped the major incidents--shootings, knifings and the like--that have hit other shopping centers and downtown shopping districts.

“We decided to do something proactive rather than wait for something to happen,” said Della Chadwell, general manager of Huntington Beach Mall.

Cameras, listening devices placed in strategic locations and computers are helpful, but mall and police spokespersons said shoppers are still the best defense against crime.

“Be observant of who’s around, at home, in their cars or here,” said Brea Mall General Manager Jim Charter. “We can have as much presence as possible, but you never know.”

Mall operators also agree that it’s important to communicate with consumers once violence does occur.

Crisis-communications experts credit Westminster Mall managers for their handling of potentially adverse publicity in the wake of a July shooting. An 18-year-old La Quinta High School student was arrested in connection with the incident, which terrified shoppers.

“I thought they did a great job of getting information--the correct information--out to the public through the media,” Lapin said. “That’s a trend in the shopping center industry now . . . educating shopping center professionals on how to deal with the media once an incident has occurred.”

Westminster Mall officials’ response to the shooting proved to be credible, Lapin said, because crowds quickly returned to normal.