SYRACUSE, NY (NCC News) – The Syracuse Police Department announced that, in an effort to better protect mall patrons, it is growing its collaboration with Destiny USA as the holiday season draws near. The bicycle patrol, according to the Syracuse Police Department, will add to the safety measures Destiny USA is currently implementing for customers. According to police, the initiatives will work as an additional deterrent to retail theft, which still affects companies not only in the mall but all around the City of Syracuse.
This comes as violent crime rates are down by 7% in the city, but retail theft continues to rise, according to Sgt. Matthew Malinowski. Destiny USA continues to be one of the biggest drivers of larceny in Syracuse as the holiday season can be a vulnerable time for both customers and employees.
“Daily thousands of people are going through there, yearly it’s millions. We have a few incidents. You know, I don’t know if you could point to any place in the world that’s perfectly 100% safe, but if you look at the amount of resources that gets dumped into that mall for safety,” Malinowski said. “From our end throwing all the police, we have the investigative, the bike patrol cameras, license plate readers.”
The two sides will also implement the shopping center’s own investigation unit, using its senior officers to prosecute and investigate larceny cases. In partnership with the district attorney’s office, Syracuse Police will look to take retail theft more seriously in order to make the message clear.
Malinowski added, “We’re going to go after the top 20 or 30 offenders, and the DA’s office is willing to actually do more in the sense of punishments. So I think when people start realizing that they’re going to do actual jail time for this, they’re going to be going away for a while and there’s going to be actual some accountability. I think eventually these larceny incidents are going to come down, you know.”
Syracuse police say that as a result of higher surveillance, theft may actually rise as it is now being reported and looked into, whereas previously stores might not have reported it to the police.
For mall employee and Garage clothing store worker Galina Yakubovich, more needs to be done to ensure safety for all mall-goers as the volume of shoppers increases.
“Adding a security guard in front of every single store at the mall and checking bags, checking for weapons at the store and I think that that will heavily decrease the amount of crimes,” Yakubovich says. She says that in the past week alone, herself and her staff have had incidents of retail theft but were pleased with the response of police within the mall.
The increase in police officers is already in effect at Destiny USA, but the police department still urges shoppers if they see something, say something.
