Business securityDon't mess with these Orlando mall cops

Far from being a piecemeal operation, security at The Mall at Millennia, a luxury mall in Orlando, Florida, is a highly sophisticated operation that uses the latest law enforcement tools, techniques, and technology.

The mall is home to many high-end retailers including one of only two Rolex shops in the country.

When visitors enter, they are immediately greeted by uniformed security officers as part of a deliberate show of force.

Gregg Moore, the mall’s security director, explained, “That’s the attitude and tone we want to set from the perimeter on in.”

Fifty unarmed security officers maintain a conspicuous presence throughout the 1.2 million square foot mall.

“You cannot enter the mall without running into a security person,” Moore said.

According to Moore, this “in your face” strategy serves two purposes. The first is to assure employees and guests of their safety and the second is to make “bad guys” acutely aware that security will be there to catch them if they do anything illegal or cause trouble.

Mall security officers routinely conduct regular foot patrols inside the mall, and in what the mall calls Operation Good Morning, Good Night, guards patrol the parking lots before the facility opens and after it closes to ensure that shoppers and employees are safe.

Backing up these foot patrols is a comprehensive network of surveillance cameras that are monitored in a twenty-four hour command center by a full-time dispatcher and camera operator.

Working together, the camera operators and security officers keep tabs on suspicious individuals.

“We have a lot of rules here,” Moore said. “We’re not shy about approaching people. Our philosophy is to kill them with kindness.”

Once officers have approached violators, camera operators continue to monitor their behavior and inform officers if they continue to break the rules.

“We pay attention to details,” Moore said.

The surveillance system currently uses digital cameras, but Moore said that the mall is “in a continuous mode of upgrade,” and there are plans to install a significant number of new cameras by the end of the month.

Last year, the mall added recording devices that monitor and store all telephone and radio traffic coming and going from the dispatch office. Moore says these devices were installed so that officials would “able to recreate what was said for investigation and training dispatchers.”

To prepare security personnel for emergency scenarios, the department conducts tabletop exercises with local law enforcement officials every six months.

These exercises are quite simple, but allow participants to walk through what needs to be done in the event of an emergency like a fire or a shooting.

Moore said, “It’s low tech, but this type of classroom setting allows us to work through different situations.”

The mall works closely with local law enforcement officials to catch local thieves. In a recent bust, mall security teamed up with the Orlando Police Department by placing empty Apple product boxes in a van.

“We set up the vehicles and nailed thieves breaking into the vehicle,” said Moore.

The mall also participates in the Florida Organized Retail Crime Enforcement (FORCE) program, an information sharing network that alerts retailers about criminal gangs as they move through the region. Retailers can also use FORCE to alert others about trends in criminal activity, leads, and even photographs of suspects.