Crime Inside of Wal-Mart - Shoplifting, Homicide, Rape, Sex Crimes, and Auto Theft

If there is a Wal-Mart near you chances are you've probably been there. In fact, you probably know at least 10 people (friends, family, work) that have been there as well. Wal-Mart is very popular wherever its put and that is the problem. Not only are your friendly neighbors attracted to the store but so are criminals. The number of crimes, especially parking lot crimes, are on the rise. Crimes at Wal-Mart are in some locations over 400% higher that other stores such as Target,

The crimes in Wal-Mart do not just include shoplifting but also homicide, rape, sex crimes, theft and auto theft. So why do so many crimes happen there? Wal-Mart is a heavily populated store and you never know who you are shopping beside. The low prices draw in people from every walk of life but so does the cheap security in some stores. The cameras are up but not working, there are no security guards and employees are not watching the front door. This does not apply to all Wal-Marts because some of them do have loss prevention teams and take proper security measures. However the stores that do not are the ones with the most crime.

Crime also happens among Wal-Mart employees as well. Some employees steal and have been arrested for shoplifting or other various crimes. Store Managers have been accused of taking large sums of money from the store for personal use. It seems as if Wal-Mart is so large that too many things fall through the cracks. They put responsibilities on under qualified individuals (yes this does include management and security) and then just hope for the best.

In Atlanta several years ago there was a string of Wal-Mart Photo Center robberies. The criminals would come in late at night, pop open the camera cases and then take all the cameras inside. A lookout would be watching the front door and when it was clear they would simply walk out with thousands of dollars in cameras and camera equipment. This happened to several stores within 50 miles of each other until finally one store took proper precautions. They emptied out all the cameras from their boxes and then put the boxes back in the case. The cameras were stored in a security room far away from that department. That night the criminals came to that store and started taking camera boxes. A manager saw them and called 911. Before they even figured out the boxes were empty the police were pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot. The thieves made it to their car and then tried to escape using the 400 expressway. They were caught and arrested after a several minute high speed chase.

The problem with that story is that Wal-Mart Photo Centers are supposed to have alarms connected to each one of the cameras on display and also the cases. If the cases is opened an alarm will come on and you must turn it off manually. In some stores that were robbed the alarm did not go off and it was an easy steal for the thieves. This was Wal-Mart's fault because obviously someone didn't do there job one night. In other stores that were also robbed the alarm did go off and the employees simply ignored it. It was too much for someone to look and see where the loud beeping alarm was coming from. The thieves heard the alarm and it didn't even phase them because they knew no one cared. It just makes you think about how these employees would act in the event of a life threatening situation. If Wal-Marts employees don't feel like doing there jobs (for whatever reason) then security and other areas of certain stores will continue to diminish.