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I don't know why that Crime Reports web site exists. Maybe it is intended as a public service. It depends upon local police departments to submit reports. Obviously that process is not going to be completely reliable if it is not required by law and no one is being paid specifically to do.

There's also the address problem that I referred to earlier. Some streets and roads have multiple names (like part of FM 646 being 16th Street in League City); and elements like street, road, and boulevard are not consistent. If a police report simply says "Walmart parking lot," they won't be able to place it on a map.

- Jim

TLynnHughes wrote:I guess the crime analysis guy will be able to tell if the increase at HEB is directly related to the OP being staged at Wal-mart across the street.

That brings up the question of why the League City PD is protecting the Walmart parking lot and not others (though Walmart may well be the city's biggest single revenue source—I don't know).

Then, if the tower is rotated around, the crooks can simply avoid the parking lot that it happens to be in that day or night.

- Jim

I'm sure we all eagerly await your report.

It may be that this tower causes the crooks to simply go elsewhere, such as the HEB across I-45 or the smaller strip malls that are all around there.

- Jim

Probably it has stabilizing feet like a cherry picker, and we hardly ever have hurricanes around here.

Can somebody cruise by and check out this thing?

- Jim

Abraham wrote:I am disinclined to shop at a mall where someone in authority thinks a guard tower of sorts is required.... Until now, I shopped there quite frequently.

Please tell them, and include your ZIP code.

In a similar vein, I once made a reservation at a name-brand motel in a town where I had never been before (this was pre-internet).

When I got there, I first had to be buzzed in through the entrance; and the "receptionist" was behind bulletproof glass.

Needless to say I had a restful night's sleep.

- Jim

ELB wrote:If they are going to staff if with civilian vollies, I am thinking that means the "Citizens Police Academy" (if League City PD has such a thing), which means staffed with geez.... er retired folks. Will make a great local TV breaking news report when one of the observers keels over and the Fire Department has to bring an aerial truck for rescue.

League City does have a citizens police academy. What town or county doesn't?

Any mechanism like that should have controls in the cabin and at the base. If not, the engineers who designed it are morons.

ELB wrote:If there is this much crime going on in box store parking lots, then, frankly, had I been mayor, I would have leaned a bit on WalMart or HEB or whoever and said, look, unless you step up observation and reporting of your own parking lots, you might some problems with your next city permit. A bit ugly, perhaps, but probably cheaper and more effective in the long run.

This shopping center has been a huge revenue generator for the city. A few years ago the area was mostly cow pastures.

I don't know what discussions may or may not have taken place, but all of these malls already have private security. Maybe the city decided that it was in its interest to increase the perception that the police are "doing something."

As far as I know, none of the local malls are particularly crime-ridden or safe. If I absolutely had to go to a mall, I wouldn't pick one over another on that basis. I've been in this one several times with no trouble and no observation of potential trouble.

As usual, the victims are those who leave valuables in plain sight in their vehicles and the vulnerable and clueless who are bumbling around after dark.

- Jim

I can think of a few reasons:

• It is much more visible and, I think, intimidating than stationary cameras.
• Criminals will not know whether or not it is manned.
• It can be moved to "hot spots." It could be used to monitor outdoor assemblies, if League City had any.

- Jim

BERLIN WALL

Hmm.

- Jim

I agree we have gone far down the road to where most people won't accept responsibility for their own safety, even with regard to simple measures like locking their car doors. That encourages criminals. Obviously most goofs who rob convenience stores or burglarize occupied houses don't expect the victims to be prepared.

Furthermore, some police officials discourage active self defense. We see the quotations all the time. They must be taught in police public-relations school.

- Jim

Divided Attention wrote:This is yet another example of how many people have delegated the responsibilty of their personal safety to others and technology rather than increasing their awareness. They remain clueless and depend upon a dude/dudette in an elevated observation pod with a cell phone to get them out of a bad situation that might have been avoided.

I don't disagree with that at all, when it comes to personal attacks.

However this kind of surveillance can forestall burglary of unoccupied vehicles and loitering.

(Actually the car burglars go somewhere else that doesn't have such measures.)

Not that I am in favor of this kind of thing, but it's a decision the city council made.

- Jim

That price isn't too bad for a piece of equipment like that. Similar equipment like cherry pickers and so forth cost upwards of $100K.

- Jim

The League City police department has deployed a mobile observation tower that will be used to monitor parking lots of shopping centers.


It is currently deployed in the parking lot of Walmart at FM 646 and I-45 (across the road from The Arms Room, BTW).

Though jokingly described as a duck blind without camouflage, it is air-conditioned and appears to me to be armored. The police plan to man it mainly with non-LEO volunteers. Cameras in the tower also can transmit images to the police department when the tower is not manned.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/204750" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Must have cost a pretty penny.

- Jim