Stores responsible for crowd control, police say

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

MINEOLA, N.Y. - Rope lines, numbered tickets and walkie-talkies for store employees could help control frenzied bargain-hunters, police said in a report issued after a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a Black Friday stampede.

Nassau County police released recommendations Wednesday, two weeks after meeting with 75 Long Island retailers about how to stage major sales events safely.

Retailers and police had debated who should take the lead on securing discount-hungry crowds after temporary Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving in Valley Stream.

The report said that while county police would respond if needed, "the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it."

------

The police report said stores should plan security for sales events months in advance, assign enough staffers to manage expected customer traffic and train workers before the event.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28464487/

---

Yeah, good luck with that!

[EconomicLiberal]

1. The stores think they are responsible for their bottom line only.

Expect more of the same to occur.

[47of74]

2. Unsurprising

The cops are always pulling that one. They couldn't care less about regular people once they enter a parking lot of a retail establishment. My brother had a car wrecked by a lady who was speeding through a parking lot and the cops pretty much told us to pound sand when we wanted them out there to investigate - all because it was in the parking lot.

[sandnsea]

5. It's private property

It's a civil matter, like if you trip over a crack in the concrete on somebody's porch. Not the cop's fault, in this instance.

[bertman]

3. I agree with the police. And you're right about the bottom line, EconomicLiberal.

That's what's going to influence this the most. When the lawsuits start tearing big chunks out of the bottom line because juries find the corporations negligent, they'll start to change their ways. Large punitive damage awards have a way of making CEO's pay attention.

There's no reason that off-duty police officers and security personnel cannot be hired to do this type of work. Why should the taxpayers have to pay for what the store or mall owners should be paying for?

[harmonicon]

4. right on

It's not as if it's the job of the police to police disney world and control crowds there.

Still, along with Walmart executives and store managers, the people/customers involved in this horrible manslaughter/murder in NY should be put on trial and go to jail for a long long time.

[sandnsea]

6. Unless there's punitive caps

Then you might not be able to find a lawyer to put in the years it would take to fight a big corporation.

[cabluedem]

7. Good reason to fire lots of cops. Lets see: Walmart + Blacks=No Protections. Move along, no story

here folks, so move along before we taze you or sic the dogs on you. (and besides we gotta go protect our white masters in those huge mansions like the good toadies/flunkies/stooges we are).

[riverdeep]

8. I gotta agree with the cops.

Hell Mart is a PRIVATE company. We already provide the health care for their employees, now we're also supposed to provide their security? No, they fucked up big time by not anticipating what a fucked up place America has become that we'll trample human beings to death over DVD players.

[SeattleGirl]

9. As they should be.

I don't think it's rocket science to figure out how to do crowd control.

[RetailSlave]

10. Other stores manage it just fine.

When Apple or Nike have special sales or other events, they have it all figured out - staff managing the line, numbering customers, controlling access to the door etc. But it does require paying a couple of staff people to take care of these things, and THAT'S something Wally World isn't going to be willing to do.

[DoctorMyEyes]

11. glad to see it officially

Though it's really just a statement of the obvious - a "well, duh!". Of course retailers or anyone else holding an event that is expected to draw large crowds are responsible for providing basic crowd control safety measures.

The police department and taxpayers are NOT your private security force. They are to be called in only if your properly planned and staffed crowd control measures are showing signs of failure due to criminal activity or unforeseen events.

Walmart fucked up big time. They hype their sales events every year and DO NOT practice common, industry wide, accepted crowd control procedures because they ENJOY the free advertising their melees provide on the newscasts covering Black Friday sales. It was only a matter of time before someone was killed or critically injured - and Walmart themselves, I'm sure, understood the gamble they were taking.

[liberal N proud]

12. Numbered tickets is the answer

Our local Wal-Mart did this a few weeks before Black Friday for some PC's and X-Boxes that were on a special sale. People lined up at the front door at 4:00 AM, doors were to open at 6:00 AM. At 5:55 a manager cam outside and passed out tickets to people standing in line. There were only as many tickets as items they had. You could get one ticket for each item on sale. When they were gone, the manager told the rest in line the tickets were all issued.

The doors opened, the remaining crowed was allowed in to a designated area where the items were provided to those with tickets. Orderly, smooth simple, No stampede, no one trampled, no one hurt.

[fascisthunter]

13. haha... of course it is... it's their private property

and it shouldn't be the responsibility of law enforcement who by the way is publicly funded. If a store can't handle crowd control, they shouldn't be in biz.....