thanks for joining us today dave great one of the things we want to talk about today is retail crime personal safety specifically during the holidays but for we do that give me i would just a brief summary of the police department in maple what well occurred authorize strength in the city maplewood for the police forces fifty five officers when i say authorized strength we're not always at those numbers with people out injured whatever but that is our authorized strength a majority of those people are assigned a patrol and we do have investigators and administrators and so they're divided out throughout the the ranks there  the retail crime section incorporates maplewood mall in the surrounding area we have two officers assigned to retail crime in maplewood and that area that is their jurisdiction accounts for about ten percent of our calls in the city wow well fifty five officers that sounds like a lot of people on the street at one time but i suppose you guys are kind of a twenty four seven operation you can't shut it down i assume absolutely we are twenty four seven operation and yeah when you start breaking it down by six or eight shifts the fifty five dwindles quite rapidly and and  it's nights weekends holidays the normal times were pretty else's often sleeping we do have to provide service to the city sure great great day how long you've been with the department i am coming up on twenty seven years with the department i've been chief know for eight years it's been a great twenty seven years great great thanks dave bob who said we want to talk a little bit today holidays coming up a little bit about retail crime and personal safety but let's let's start with retail crime what what what what is the retail crime what types of things do you see happening and more so during the holidays well if you look at the as website where they track crime statistics you're not going to find a category for retail crime it encompasses many things from shoplifters to credit card fraud to check fraud anything like that that happens in perspective and in relation to anything that has to do with their retail customers our customers for the police department the retail merchants of the city  they are often the victim of crime and the people who frequent their businesses at times become the victim of crime also around the holidays we see an increase in shoplifters where you and i go out and purchase christmas gifts holiday gifts for for the people we care about many people trying to steal those check writing on accounts that don't have sufficient funds and is is a popular activity this time your we're all little short of money this time of year some people are chronically short of money and continue to write checks on those accounts which is a violation of the law people steal credit cards use stolen credit cards to make purchases and they can rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars on credit cards and we'll talk a little bit later about the difference between using a credit card and a debit card and  how to protect yourself there but the people at the at the retail areas of our city deal with all of these and we do see a spike in all of these retail crime activities around the holidays you know public a problem is this for maplewood men and when you say retail for me i think of maplewood mall so is it really concentrated at the mall or is this bigger than a maplewood mall issue and and how do you as a department then address that we do have a police office at maplewood mall it's kind of the are hub of the retail area as you know there are many shopping centers around the mall that are not part of the mall property  they are not related to the mall in any way but there's a lot of retail it business echoes on there those officers also respond to calls there because what we see oftentimes is someone that passes a bad check or a counterfeit bill or a stolen credit card across the street from the mall will then go to the mall and try the same thing so so they're dealing with all of those instances in that in that area there's not definite geographical boundaries but generally they deal with the crimes that are associated with the businesses in that area so i think you said you had two officers assigned is it just those two officers or is this something that increases during the holidays and you assign more people are or how does that the perp and really respond holidays and change from different times he had generally the other times of the year those two officers  deal with most of the issues in the retail areas of our city we do put additional people on in that area during the the how day times this this becomes mostly a daytime activity or early evening where we provide service to the city twenty four hours seven days a week for everything else we are limited somewhat on the retail area because places do clo the the officers that are assigned there do provide seven day a week coverage they stagger their schedules and then we also supplement them if they're off on a vacation day or something  the black friday crowds overwhelm us sometimes and we will have officers working off duty at various businesses prior to their opening where they are hired extra by those businesses but there are always officers of vailable to respond to the businesses that are generally covered by the two officers who are assigned their full time ok so you have security at the mall but the mall has their own security top yes they have their own private security they cannot make arrests they can make citizen's arrests like you could and they provide security within the mall and their parking lot and i think it's more safety and security they move they make the shopping experience a little more pleasant there for the people and and just monitor what's going on so obviously maplewood mall it's a big concentration of stores but  other areas in the city soon like we've got a number of large grocery stores you know places like that are they also victims i assume of the same type of crimes absolutely and people don't realize this but some of our biggest customers for shoplifting or us are grocery stores ok they had people are amazed by that but when you look at some of the more luxurious items that you can purchase in a grocery store store they're there lucrative and people need to eat and unfortunately oftentimes people can't afford to buy the groceries they need or feel that there are wants are more than they can meet with their dated a paycheck and we do end up making a lot of shoplifting shoplifting arrests in the grocery stores we make on the average between fifty and sixty shoplifting arrests a month  so that's an average of two a day seven days a week so it is a huge problem and it's one of our biggest crime statistics in the city while and so shoplifting that's not something where you're one or two officer see this happening is this a something that store security see these or that the clerks or the tellers and they then file a complaint is that how it usually happens it can be a combination of all of those many o retail stores have private security within their own stores that you don't see ok the secret shoppers that are keeping an eye on what you and i are doing when we're in their businesses they have video monitoring that they use and just generally keep an eye on of people they think are suspicious and potentially could be stealing their merchandise and they will apprehend the people that they find taking their merchandise without pay thing they will take them into custody and then call the police department ok well that's kind of the business side of things but let's go to the other side though the personal safety  maplewood what about those types of crimes or i think you've told me those crimes increased during the holidays as well absolutely you know we do see an increase in  domestic abuse cases and domestic calls not necessarily abuse right around the holidays i think it's people getting on each other's nerves a little bit too much and and the tension of the holidays  those situations we can't control a lot of what we do see are an increase in robberies where people will forcibly go into a store either with a weapon or or with the threat of force and take money take merchandise we also see that on the streets or in the parking lots and that's where we want our citizens to practice personal safety and be aware of their surroundings  when you are out shopping don't haul a load of gifts so to your car and put them on the front seat and then go back again there are people out there that are looking for this to happen we talk about  from vehicle of being a crime of opportunity the opportunity is when you put those gifts on the front seat don't give people that opportunity lock the gifts in your car don't leave your purses sitting on the front seat don't go there on your way home from work and leave your laptop computer sitting in the front seat someone will be there that will take the opportunity to steal that and make a christmas gift out of it we also want to be concerned about personal safety walking to and from your car  pay attention to the the lighting we talked about mall security they are more than happy to give escorts to vehicles i know the st john's hospital has security on their groans too that will give  just about any place that has private security will give escorts to people to their cars and those are the bigger concerns we don't want people carrying a lot of cash it's obviously tempting to take  stash from the your prior that you've saved up for buying gifts and go christmas shopping use credit cards use checks don't carry a lot of cash you can because you're just setting yourself up to be a victim  so be aware of your surroundings what about personal protection want to you know you talked about how to avoid things or i mean personal things suggestions here saying that or you know people leaving the mall or leaving the grocery store and that little bit more to me i'm interested in hearing your thoughts so are you talking about walking together with people or that type of thing or are really  waiting for mall security to be there absolutely you know that that's the best situation is there safety in numbers and generally when there's more than one person walking another person is not not going to victimize them it's when you're walking alone and walking in the dark and yet if it takes five minutes to wait for an escort if you're waiting for a ride whether it's a taxi or a bus or for someone to pick you up wait indoors if you can wait in a well lit area just be aware of your surroundings and so many victims so many people fall victim to that because they're not aware of their surroundings  oblivious to their surroundings and they're setting themselves up to be a victim and we don't want that to happen especially around the holidays absolutely and again going back over this year this before on the retail crime but is this really a big issue for maplewood absolutely and like i said there are people who who use the opportunity of the numbers of people that go out shopping around the holidays to victimize people more often but is this typical of other cities or is maplewood unique in this type of situation it's it's widespread throughout the the metro area and probably the state anywhere there is there is a large  retail crime where there are a lot of people coming in going purchasing things leaving them in their cars hauling them out to their cars we see the same thing throughout the metro area ok let's absolutely we do see an uptick in burglaries people breaking into someone else's house to steal whatever they can to either sell it or use themselves as christmas  gifts one of the things we suggest is if you're going to be away from your home for an extended period of time don't leave your christmas gift sitting there in plain sight i mean it's all it takes is is a breakage of the glass to get in to get those christmas gifts a lot of people travel around the holidays one of the biggest things that i suggest to people when they travel is make your house look like it does any other time you're there i have a neighbor who i know when they are out of town because the outside light is on generally the outside light is an odd and so people watch that and t in on that you know if you're going to put lights on a timer which we suggest tremendously do it all the time you know have had that light in a room where you normally don't spend a lot of time the light comes on the light goes off whether you're there or not and that's the routine you know people say should i draw my drapes should my drama drapes  what do you do when you're there or do the same thing make your house look like it's lived in if you're going to be gone for an extended period of time remember it does snow in minnesota what's the the clearest example of someone not coming and going from a house no tracks in the driveway get a neighbor get a friend that can run their snowblower up and down your driveway and pay him a couple of bucks to do it and buy him a nice christmas gift but that that is a telltale signs don't let your newspapers pile up on the front step stop your paper stop your mail if you're going to be gone for an extended period of time but all of those things we see an increase in because people do go away for the holidays and unfortunately times set themselves up to the victims their sounds like the holidays quite an increase in crimes than and that obviously a busy time of year how do you is the chief respond to that i mean what do you do you pull people off other areas or it's it's more letting officers know what to be aware of i think every police officer knows that the there is an increased chance to walk in on a robbery during the holiday season looking for burglaries that could be occurring looking for suspicious people we do vary our coverage of where we put people in response to the time of year not to be very specific there but we do adapt to that situation also one of the biggest things that you know people can do in their own neighborhoods is start a neighborhood watch group the neighbors can be the best eyes and ears that we have and will be afraid to call if you see something suspicious when you see it happening don't call tomorrow morning and say boy i saw something last night that really looks funny call if you see something let us decide whether it really is a spirit is there a special number that i should call or tell people to call when you see something you can call nine one one you can call the non emergency police number seven seven seven eight one nine one and just tell them that you are watching something occurring right there right now that looks suspicious and they will send an officer out to check it out dave i want to hear you say that again so when there's something suspicious i thought nine one one was only for those extreme emergencies that's a misconception that people feel that they have to have a life threatening emergency to call nine one one the calls are answered in the same place probably by the same people so your call is going to get there just a little bit more urgent if you call nine one one so don't be afraid to use it it's a number that anyone can remember that's why we don't discourage people from using that number so you're telling me that the same person on the not emergency number answers the nine one one call absolute the all the calls are answered at the ramsey county communications center there is a misconception there that nine one one is some new national entity that's answered somewhere else emergency and non emergency police fire e m s are all answered in the same room sometimes by the same people w ok let's go back to whole boners you talked about a few things to avoiding at home should holders really be concerned is this really something don't you have the zones in the city and don't officers drive those  all the time to help protect their homeowners we do there been studies that do a routine patrol doesn't necessarily curtail crime it becomes more of a feel good situation where you see a squad car drive down your street and you go we have police protection we have police protection i'm assuring you of that and people often say i never see a squad car in my neighborhood and i see maybe you live in a neighborhood where that isn't necessary and that's a good thing because there are neighborhoods where people see squad cars many times a day and there probably are less desirable neighborhoods  but but we do provide the protection you call in an officer will come to your home but the eyes and ears of your neighbors through a neighborhood watch program are great benefit to the police department and no one knows what goes on in your neighborhood better than you when your neighbors and we can drive up and down the same street every day but when you're looking at your neighbor's house hour after hour day after day you know what looks normal and what doesn't look normal and what looks suspicious and by all means call when you see those instances dave you mentioned something the neighborhood watch how is that that's a great way to for people to help the police department do a better job how do you get those started they're they're really easy and people think it's a very complex operation all you've got to do is get your neighbors together for a party if you will we will provide an officer to come out and give a talk on neighborhood safety making your neighborhood safe for personal i'll see if the all you gotta do is provide  group and we can even sometimes arrange for a location for you to meet if one person doesn't want to have it at their home food is always a great way to get your neighbors together but we will provide an officer and we will get you going on a neighborhood watch group we have over sixty of them in the in the city of maplewood now and some of them are more active than others but they're a great asset to the police department and we always encourage people to try to start a neighborhood watch program it's it's too late when the crime has occurred and we do see that where someone goes through a neighborhood breaks into a bunch of tires we need to start a neighborhood watch program  you need to disturb one a week ago before this happened it's the horses out of the barn theory so let's do something about it start your neighborhood watch group and be prepared for the holidays be prepared for next summer w everybody's on vacation or neighborhood watch so they call your office to get that started they can call our office they will probably get put in touch with lieutenant dick dobler who is in charge of our patrol division and he will arrange for someone to come out to their location and he'll walk them through what they need to do to get the group started there's a neighborhood watch does that get tied to national night out to do those things work together we try to incorporate the two we do have national night out parties that don't have formal black clubs or neighborhood watch clubs in place and we try to use that as an impetus to to get those groups going they are related but not necessarily tied together and we try to use the black watch groups to have national laid out parties and we also try to start a national or we stare east black watches we talked about neighborhood watch and how that can be helpful any other suggestions i want to get back to when you said earlier you're going to get back to and that i think you talked about credit cards and debit cards and all of that they're not going to let you get away without talking about that for reminding me what we're seeing a lot of right now is credit card fraud and you do not do not have to have a physical credit card in your  somebody all you need is the number and with the internet and the number of purchases that are made over the internet we are seeing that on a daily basis every day i see a report someone reporting that their credit card was used for aaja lately to make a purchase or several purchases that's difficult to stop i have been a victim of that personally myself somebody got ahold of my credit card number i have no idea where a purchase was made on line in california i have no idea by who and i don't know how i could have prevented that one way though that i was protected was it was a credit card number that the was not a debit card number debit cards are issued generally by banks and they tapped right into your bank account don't use those on the internet don't use those for making on line purchases use a credit card if you want to avoid the finance charge it off as soon as you get the bill but if you give someone over the internet or over the phone your debit card number they can drain your entire bank account and if you are if you're drawing from a checking account you have check protection they're probably going to tap in your savings then also so use a credit card for any purchases you make other than over the counter in a retail setting don't be a victim of that don't don't set yourself up any more than be to become a victim of their credit card numbers can always be stolen it's it's a fact the life and it's something we can't prevent but you can do what you can a lot of credit card companies will protect you on fraudulent purchases made with a credit card dave are you telling me that it somebody got ahold of your credit card you were a victim don't don't you with the chief have something special to make sure i wish i did know i don't  and like i said i have no idea where they got the number from and you know you think of the number of times that some people use their credit card throughout a week throughout a month and the number of people that have access to that number it's it's  staggering as to how many times those are used fraudulent lee ok dave we're getting down to the end what's the last thing people should really the holidays great time we don't want people to be afraid to it's a great place exactly but really what's probably the key thing to be aware of for for our residents being in maplewood just be aware that everyone  a little differently around the holidays we have different routines we go shopping we go socializing just be cognizant that there are people out there that want to take advantage of those opportunities don't give them those opportunities be one step ahead of them be aware of your surroundings be aware of the safety of your home and i am no meteorologist but i will tell you winter and cold weather is coming don't start your car running outside with the keys in it ok regardless of whether it's in your driveway we see numerous cars stolen every year just because of that so so be aware of that don't leave the gifts on the front seat with the car running because your car and your gifts are going to be gone so don't give people the opportunity to take advantage of you know the one up on him and be cognizant and by all means please please in the holiday season don't go to the parties and have a little too much to drink and drive ok that's a whole other show they have reason to drive a joke that we're going to get to chief thanks for your time we're all out it was great information maplewood is a great place and we certainly appreciate our police department and your leadership of that so thanks for watching spotlight on maplewood we'll see you next month with another version