High-traffic malls may be conducive to sexual predators who can stalk undetected, security consultants say.
“Malls invite that kind of activity because there are lot of younger people around, and it is easy for someone to get lost in the crowd,” said Jack Dowling, head of JD Security Consultants and an expert on mall security.
Two women at the Mall in Columbia recently were targeted by an unidentified man who followed them with what appears to be a hidden camera, then fondled them in the parking lot.
He remains at large.
The incident is an example of cell phone cameras becoming “a gateway to physical assaults,” because the user can take pictures without being detected, said former Howard County Del. Neil Quinter, who introduced the state law making it a crime to use electronic devices to take inappropriate pictures.
Unspecified assaults are second to shoplifting, which police consider the most-pervasive crime problem at malls, according to police data.
“I?ve been in this business for 10 years, and this is the first time I?ve experienced something like that,” said Steve Crumrine, director of corporate security for General Growth Properties, which includes the Mall in Columbia, Towson Town Center, White Marsh, Owings Mills and Harbor Place.
But some shoppers at the Columbia mall are taking extra precautions.
“It reminded me to buy Mace again,” Katherine Kunkel, 23, of Burtonsville, said on Tuesday.
New digital cameras and increased security patrols are helping to make malls safer, officials said.
“Most good-sized malls will see a million people a month, and a vast majority come and go without incident,” said Malachy Kavanagh, vice president of communications for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Bill Toohey, Baltimore County Police spokesman, said 43 street robberies occurred in and around nine county malls in 2006.
“Given the millions who walk through the malls, that?s a remarkably safe figure,” he said.
Police encourage shoppers to walk in groups and have their car keys out before reaching their vehicles.
“We never walk out by ourselves,” said Amy Alley, 35, of Severn, at Arundel Mills.
“You do the best you can to take precautions, but you have to live.”
Kaitlyn Seith contributed to this report.
BY THE NUMBERS
Assaults reported in malls around the region for 2006
» Anne Arundel: 91 assaults
» Baltimore County: 228 assaults
» Howard: Six aggravated assaults
» Carroll?s and Harford?s sheriff?s offices did not have data.
