How safe you are inside a business late at night can vary, from the type of business it is to where it’s located. And there’s lots more going on behind the scenes you might not even be aware of.
Spurred on by repeated incidents at certain gas stations, convenience stores and other places that stay open late, a Prince George’s County, Maryland, lawmaker says not every business is doing enough to make sure customers and employees are being kept safe. And worse, she says those businesses aren’t being held accountable for their negligence.
Under a new bill introduced this week by Prince George’s County Council member Krystal Oriadha, that would change. She’s proposing the county require a “Late Night Safety Plan” for any business that operates between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“We’ve seen a rise in crime specifically at late night at certain establishments,” said Oriadha, citing carjackings, robberies and other violent incidents that have occurred.
And while she concedes there’s not one solution that applies to every business, neither is there one that will work in totality: “These establishments can work with the police department to create a safety plan that makes sense for their business.”
Oriadha told WTOP the bill would require businesses to work with the police to assess what they might be doing right, and what they could be doing better. She cited hypotheticals like requiring businesses to get better cameras, or store their surveillance video in a “cloud” system that employees would have access to, instead of making police wait for hours so an owner can arrive at the store and let them into a back office.
“It can look different from location to location,” she said. “We’re not going to prescribe what that looks like. The police have a better understanding of what they’re seeing at these different establishments and types of businesses.”
Police have long provided such a service — and repeatedly say they’re willing to help provide security assessments to businesses that ask for them.
“There are so many ways for you to protect yourself and your business,” Police Chief Malik Aziz said Thursday.
He addressed this sort of situation when asked how convenience stores can take steps to improve safety, after another ATM was stolen from one in Landover Hills on Thursday morning. One of the first things he mentioned was a security assessment that police offered.
A lot of the assessment focuses on making sure stores had quality video cameras set up in a way that the video can’t be stolen by thieves. These days, a robber won’t just demand the cash drawer, but the video system too.
“It’s our checks and measures to make sure that these businesses are doing their due diligence to keep the community safe,” Oriadha said.
