RAND lists thirty-nine options for mall security
Shopping centers seen as a tempting terrorist target; RAND recommends vehicle barriers, bag and coat searches, and information campaigns; implementing procedures claimed to reduce risk 95 percent
We like shopping in the mall as much as the next fellow, but we confess to a bit of terrorist-induced claustrophobia. Not only are malls tempting targets as symbols of American capitalism, their close quarters and heavy foot traffic present hundreds of potential casualties on a daily basis — most of whom are too focussed on the sales at Bloomingdale’s than on potential security threats. (There have been more than sixty terrorist attacks against shopping centers in twenty-one countries since 1998.) Readers may recall our earlier story about a new anti-terror course for mall security guards. That may have been a good start, but for further ideas about how to protect shopping centers we turn to the indefagitable RAND Corporation. The think tank has issued a new report that identifies and prioritizes thirty-nine security measures that can substantially reduce the risk of terrorist attacks at malls and other shopping centers to just one-fifteenth the level it would otherwise be, based on case studies of three enclosed shopping centers in the United States.
Among the highest priority measures identified by the RAND study are: public information campaigns encouraging people to report suspicious packages; placing vehicle barriers at pedestrian entrances to block suicide car bombers; searching kiosks for bombs and weapons; more clearly labeling exits so shoppers can quickly find their way out of malls in an emergency; and searching all bags and requiring everyone entering shopping centers to remove their coats to check for explosives and weapons. Not that this will cheap or convenient (especially the coat removal process.) According to RAND, the costs of implementing the highest priority security measures range from $500,000 to $2 million per year per at each of the three shopping centers examined. Most interestigly, the researchers found that implementing the high-priority measures would be 95 percent as effective as implementing all thirty-nine measures.
The report, “Reducing Terrorism Risk at Shopping Centers: An Analysis of Potential Security Options,” is available at www.rand.org. The research was conducted by the Homeland Security Program within the RAND Infrastructure, Safety and Environment (ISE) Division.
-read more in this RAND news release
