Half Of This City’s Crime Takes Place At Their Local Walmart

Police in Port Richey, FL say that nearly half of the city's crime comes from their local Walmart store.

Roughly four out of every 10 crimes (46%) takes place at the Walmart on U.S. 19 and Ridge Road in Port Richey, FL. From shoplifting, to pick-pocketing and domestic incidents police are being called out to the store at least twice a day—and Capt. Bill Ferguson says he has had enough.

Part of the problem, according to Ferguson, has to do with Walmart security.

They have a security director there and his evaluations are based on upon how affective they are at catching shoplifting, so we have competing interests here, we want to prevent crime, and he’s trying to look for arrests

Police say surveillance shows a large amount of shoplifting—which is normal for any retail outlet, but in addition to the theft this particular location has also seen it's fair share of zany crime.

For instance, the time a 77-year-old woman got into an argument with a man over a parking spot that escalated into her ramming him with her car, and driving around the parking lot with the man on her hood.

The department aims to catch repeat offenders before they have a chance to walk through the doors—so their current game plan involves hourly walk-throughs in the store, as well as parking lot patrols.

Police say the crime has only reduced slightly in the last few weeks, but shoppers are saying they definitely notice a difference.

In six months, police will re-evaluate the plan to see if it's effective. If not, they'll go back to the drawing board with Walmart officials, who have vowed to work with police to lower crimes being attempted at its stores.

[via BayNews9]