Malls Tighten Security for Happier Holidays : Crime: Some have begun bike patrols or are stationing lookouts on roofs. Police on horseback are also keeping watch over parking lots.

With five shopping days left until Christmas, malls and department stores across the San Fernando Valley have beefed up their security operations to prevent encounters with those all too familiar holiday visitors: shoplifters and robbers.

Along with local police patrols, security teams at shopping centers have instituted their own bike patrols, hired extra personnel and posted private security officers on mall roofs to scan parking lots and create more of a security presence.

“We put more people out on the floor and in the parking lot (now) than any other time of year. . . . We also have a large pool of off-duty LAPD officers,” said Brian Pearson, general manager at the Antelope Valley Mall.

Incidents of shoplifting, car break-ins and robbery increase by about 50% during the hectic shopping season, police say. Not surprisingly, some shoppers have received rude introductions to holiday robbery, and some individual chain stores that lack the benefit of elaborate security systems have suffered a cruel initiation into holiday crime.

One morning last week, just after a Radio Shack store in Sherman Oaks opened, a man, who posed as a customer looking for audio cables, walked in and allegedly held the manager of the store at gunpoint, said Humberto Correa, a store employee. After ordering the manager to wait in the bathroom, the gunman then allegedly stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, Correa said.

A few days before that, two men also ran off with stereo speakers, Correa said. The 3-month-old Radio Shack store has video cameras, but no security personnel.

This time of the year, police reports at the West Valley Division are rife with tales of credit card fraud, shoplifting and car burglary. In some cases, thieves break car windows looking for cellular phones, presents and other merchandise, said Steve Kegley, a senior officer with the division.

For this reason, Panorama Mall has bike patrols in its parking lots and security guards as lookouts on the mall’s roofs. Periodically, guards ride bikes through the parking lot, stopping to help shoppers when they have questions and scanning the grounds for troublemakers.

According to Mary Callahan, the mall’s manager, customers can be picked up or delivered to their cars via a mall van, to forestall being attacked as they struggle to their vehicles with heavy packages.

“We have closed-circuit televisions that monitor the parking lots, and they are monitored on a 24-hour basis,” said Mary Lankester of the Topanga Plaza mall in Canoga Park. The security team there, like many others in the area, is working with LAPD officers from a nearby police substation.

One night last week, the LAPD had police on horseback riding through the Topanga Plaza parking lot to make a noticeable security presence. But a woman shopping at the mall recently had her purse snatched with $3,265 worth of jewelry inside, police reports said.

Most police stations have increased uniformed police foot patrols in malls and shopping strips throughout the Valley, police say. Plainclothes officers monitor mall grounds, sometimes placing decoys to attract criminals.

“They put out cars and camp out and wait there until someone tries something,” said Eric Knudson, general manager for the Fallbrook Mall, which has tripled patrols for this holiday season. “Last year, they did this and caught a number of individuals.”

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The LAPD also trains 100 law enforcement Explorer Scouts, who help patrol area malls. The Scouts, who range in age from 14 to 20, undergo 136 hours of training at the Police Academy. They often escort shoppers who can’t find their cars, but the Scouts have also helped in the arrest of shoplifters and purse snatchers.

Many shopping centers also hired temporary personnel after Thanksgiving to boost their regular security teams until the New Year. “Our break-ins are way down,” said Richard Deanda, security director for the Media City Center mall in Burbank.

At the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, security director Seamus Keenan hired 10 temporary security guards to bolster his staff of more than 30 officers. The mall has also increased the hours of its permanent staffers and extended their workweek to six days.

Mall officials also brief store managers within the mall about safety and credit card fraud, which also increases during the holidays. “We prepare the merchants by giving them seminars in advance,” Keenan said.

At the Northridge Fashion Center there was no need to hire more security officers. But the mall is increasing the hours of its regular security staff.

The Northridge mall is not fully open because of earthquake repairs, but Sears and the Broadway did reopen there last month. And Ed Tiritilli, Sears’ general manager, said he is using more plainclothes security throughout the store.