Wal-mart foes cite crime study
THE ANN ARBOR NEWS THURSDAY, MAY 1 1, 2006
Wal-Mart foes cite crime study
Report by company critics shows higher rate of incidents near stores
BY JOHN MULCAHY AND AMALIE NASH
News Staff Reporters
Opponents of a Wal-Mart store approved to be built in Pittsfield Township say a national study of crime at Wal-Mart stores is one more reason the store should not be built.
Members of Moms vs. Wal-Mart and Pittsfield Community First held a press conference outside the Pittsfield Township Administration Building on Wednesday to talk about the study. It says that reported police incidents at Wal-Mart stores in the study in 2004 were 400 percent higher than at nearby Target stores.
Similar press conferences were being held around the country.
However, local police can’t say definitively whether the national statistics hold up locally, and customers shopping Wednesday at a Wal-Mart store in Ypsilanti Township said they’ve never seen evidence of crime and they feel safe shopping at the store. Attempts to reach a Wal-Mart spokesperson were not successful.
The study, compiled by WakeUpWalMart.com, a national group seeking to change Wal-Mart policies, compared police reports for 551 Wal-Mart stores with police reports for Target stores in the same neighborhoods. The study reported 2,909 serious crimes at the Wal-Mart stores, including four homicides, nine rapes or attempted rapes, 154 sex crimes, 550 robberies and 1,024 auto thefts.
'Cheap'vs.'safe'?
Pittsfield Township resident Kristin Judge, founder of Moms vs. Wal-Mart, said the report shows that Wal-Mart needs to spend more money to control crime on its properly. “We want Wal-Mart to stop being so cheap and be safe,” Judge said.
Sabrina Gross, another member of Moms vs. Wal-Mart and a founder of Pittsfield Community First, said Wal-Mart should provide continuous security patrols in its parking lots, provide and monitor security cameras and do a general evaluation of its security situation.
Mark Charrette, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said that WakeUpWalMart.com is a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union to try to change Wal-Mart behavior.
According to Washtenaw County Sheriffs Department statistics, deputies responded to 18 serious crimes at Wal-Mart on Ellsworth Road in Ypsilanti Township in 2004 and 15 in 2005. Serious crimes are defined as homicides, rapes, robberies, burglaries, larcenies, arsons, aggravated assaults and car thefts.
The 2005 statistics include one robbery, one burglary, 11 larcenies and five auto thefts and auto larcenies. The 2004 numbers include 13 larcenies and two auto thefts and auto larcenies. Shoplifting is not considered a serious crime; an example of a larceny would be a purse stolen from a grocery cart, said Sheriffs Cmdr. Dave Egeler.
Shoplifting down locally
Egeler also said shoplifting has appeared to have waned at the store in recent years.
“Glancing through the numbers prior to 2003, we appeared to have a greater amount of runs,” he said. “It looks like retail frauds are down, so they may have changed their loss prevention at the store somehow to effectively knock down shoplifting.”
Pittsfield Deputy Police Director Elizabeth McGuire said she could not recall a notable crime at either Target store in the township.
“Anecdotally, I can’t remember any assaultive crime at Target,” McGuire said. “We see some retail frauds and some embezzlement complaints. At Meijer, we’ve had a few assaultive type complaints like strong-armed robberies, but very few.”
At the Wal-Mart store in Ypsilanti Township, several customers putting their purchases in their vehicles said they were not worried. Pittsfield Township resident Bud Wilson looked amused at the 400 percent more police calls statistic.
“I come to this shopping center all the time,” Wilson said. “I think they’re grasping at straws” to stop the Wal-Mart.
Johnnie Roberts of Ann Arbor said he felt no fear.
“I feel perfectly safe in the Wal-Mart,” Roberts said. “I come here all the time and haven’t ever seen anybody robbed.”
Najah Abdellatif of Ypsilanti said she did not think there was much crime at the store. “It’s safe and it’s cheaper than anywhere else,” Abdellatif said.
John Mulcahy can be reached at jmulcahy@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6858.