Keeping an Eye on Christmas Shoppers : Crime: Malls are sold on stepping up security for the holiday season.

If it weren’t for the police and security officers hanging around, Anna Hernandez could pass for a bright young assistant at a television network.

Clad in a searing yellow T-shirt and clutching a joystick like the ones used to control computer games, she stares intently at a bank of video monitors, zooming in first on one scene, then another. But the more than 50 images blinking in front of her are not of love lost or family comedy. Hernandez works in the security office of the Northridge Fashion Center, and the scenes in front of her show the small dramas of everyday life at the mall: a man sorting through a pile of hats, a woman going out to her car.

Hernandez is one of a legion of security officers, police and support workers who flood area shopping malls this time of year. They help lost children find their parents, lost grown-ups find their cars, and--oh, yes--they try to catch criminals.

Nationwide, shopping malls spend $5 billion a year on security, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, nearly twice what was spent four years ago. A third of that cost is incurred during the six-week holiday shopping season. In Southern California, security officers ride bicycles through parking lots, patrol malls on foot and make use of radio and video technology to keep an eye on mall traffic. At the Fallbrook Mall in West Hills, where three people have been killed in the past two years, mounted patrols assist regular security personnel.

Most malls for years refused to discuss their security arrangements, preferring, like the Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles, “not to focus on injury.” But others have begun to actively promote their security setups, banking on their high-tech surveillance techniques to lure increasingly crime-wary customers.

“We’re getting a lot of positive responses from our customers,” said Annette Bethers, director of marketing for Northridge Fashion Center. Bethers is conducting an aggressive marketing campaign at Northridge, designed to lure back customers who shopped elsewhere during the 18 months that the mall was closed for earthquake repairs.

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Just inside the main entrance is the mall’s high-profile security office, its upscale facade augmented by a bank of color video screens. Each screen displays a portion of the mall and its occupants. Security and information personnel distribute a brochure titled “Safe, Secure Shopping” and a sign advertises the presence of a Los Angeles Police Department substation in the mall.

“For years, nobody talked about security at all,” said Mark Schoifet, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers. “Now, we live in a society where crime is much more on people’s minds, and the consumers are demanding a more visible security presence.”

The business organization, whose members include most of the 2,000 enclosed malls in the nation and about 30,000 shopping centers worldwide, began to hold annual conferences on security four years ago. Since then, Schoifet said, most malls have doubled their annual expenditures on security.

This year, Schoifet said, the shopping center council for the first time published a pamphlet on consumer safety for its members to distribute.

“Some people tend to get caught up in the fantasy feeling of a mall, with the Christmas music and the tree and Santa Claus and the fountains,” Schoifet said. “But they should be aware--as any place where people gather--that the Christmas season brings out the best in some people, but for a certain criminal element [it] brings out the worst.”

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Those malls with particularly aggressive marketing approaches, Schoifet said, are the ones promoting their security systems.

By contrast, the Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles has not made security part of its advertising or marketing efforts, said Pam Smith, the mall’s marketing director.

Still, whether they talk about it or not, most malls and shopping centers have increased security significantly for the holiday season. This time of year, police say, brings out larger-than-usual crowds of shoppers, many of whom are carrying large amounts of money and many purchases.

At the Glendale Galleria, for example, where the city’s Police Department has a substation on the premises, arrests increase during the holiday season, from about 50 per month normally to about 60 per month, said Glendale Police Officer Ernie Garcia.

To meet the need, he said, the mall increases its security force by about a third during the holiday season. Like Northridge Fashion Center, Garcia said, the Galleria has a complex system of surveillance cameras that can follow a customer all the way out to the parking lot and read the license plate number on his or her car.

In Santa Monica, where city police patrol the outdoor shopping area of the Third Street Promenade, the law enforcement presence is doubled at night, from four officers on bicycles, in cars and on foot to eight, said spokesman Sgt. Frank Fabrega.

The vast majority of crimes committed at shopping centers during the holidays involve shoplifting, said Fabrega. For example, at the Third Street Promenade in December of last year, there were 20 incidents of shoplifting but no crimes against people. By contrast, in January of 1995, the number of shoplifting incidents decreased by half. There was one aggravated assault during that month.

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After shoplifting, police say, most crime involves thieves who break into cars and steal gifts, purses and other items. Fraud involving credit cards and stolen or bad checks also increases.

The shopping center council, which like mall managers wants consumers to feel safe, cites a 1993 University of Florida study that found that there were an average of 3.3 crimes against customers at any particular mall during the year, compared to 69.3 shoplifting incidents.

Still, shoppers who want to ensure that their gifts aren’t stolen would do well to keep security in mind, said Police Officer James Cypert of the LAPD’s crime prevention unit. Most people, he said, are so consumed with buying gifts that they forget to take normal precautions.

“Most people, when they go shopping during the holiday season, unzip their skulls and leave their brains at home,” Cypert said.

Women, Cypert said, should avoid carrying purses, or keep their bags close to their bodies. Men should keep their wallets in the front pockets of jackets or pants. Even better, he suggested, leave the wallet at home and just bring along one credit card or enough money for the day’s purchases.

Customers who make several purchases should ask shopkeepers to hold on to their packages while they finish shopping so they’re not burdened with lots of bags and boxes while navigating the crowds. People should park near an entrance and examine the area around their cars before getting inside, he said.

The LAPD also increases patrols during the holidays, Cypert said.

For some in the security business, the holiday season is a boom time, when surveillance experts and other security officers can take particular pride in keeping everything calm.

Wayne Rogers, who installed the high-tech video system at Northridge Fashion Center, speaks with pride of intercepting would-be thieves and stopping employee theft.

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Once, Northridge mall officials said, a child was reunited with his parents in less than 30 seconds because of the video cameras. Another time, a would-be purse snatcher was thwarted in his efforts to accost a woman in the parking lot.

Searching the mall for criminals, said Rogers, is like hunting. In this case, he said, the hunters were Hernandez and the three other technicians working in front of the bank of video monitors.

“You sit out in the bushes and you wait and wait and wait, and all of a sudden, the deer comes up and you shoot it,” he said. “That’s what these folks are doing here.”

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Holiday Safety Tips

Here are some safety measures suggested by the Los Angeles Police Department for holiday shoppers.

1. Choosing a Spot: Park in well lighted areas and, at shopping malls, as close to the entrance as possible.

2. Don’t carry a purse: Take only the money you will need for the day’s purchases and as few credit cards as possible. If you must carry a purse, wear it close to your body and slightly ahead of you. Men should keep their wallets in their front inside pockets.

3. Packages: Ask merchants to hold your packages until you’re finished shopping for the day. When you bring packages out to the car, try to make sure no one is watching you and put them in the trunk. Never leave packages where they are visible.

4. Parking Lot: When going out to the car, scan the area for people who might be loitering nearby. Have your keys out and ready. Ask for help from security if you feel nervous.

5. Stay Alert: If someone appears to be following you as you drive home, make a series of four right turns. If the car is still behind you, head to the nearest police or fire station, or to a store where you are known to the proprietor or workers.

6. Choosing a Time: Try not to shop at night.

Source: LAPD