Are malls safe? Here’s what the experts are saying after the Easter weekend filming

Two mall shootings this monthfirst in New Jersey and then in South Carolina, sent shoppers and employees rushing for safety.

The incidents have left security experts wondering what malls are doing to keep millions of visitors safe.

In Columbia, South Carolina, 14 people were injured in a shooting Saturday at the Columbiana Center Mall as shoppers browsed Easter weekend. In East Rutherford, New Jersey, on April 7, a 37-year-old man was shot multiple times at the American Dream Mall, one of the nation’s largest retail and entertainment complexes.

Malls present more security issues than other public places due to their large open spaces and interior doors that lead to restaurants and shops — dead ends with no exterior exit, experts said.

FACT VERIFIED: Find out the truth with USA TODAY’s free Checking the Facts newsletter

At the American Dream mall, most people ran in search of outside exits and others found hiding places. Shoppers expressed their confusion on social media. Unlike schools, where students participate in emergency drills for active shooters, fires and a lot other scenarios, buyers in shopping centers are unaware of the best action to take.

Brian Higgins, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan and former chief of the Bergen County Police Department, stressed the importance of being prepared for a shooting or similar situation when visiting a center trading, although the chances of such an event are very slow.

If a shooting occurs, Higgins said, getting out of the building is the ideal first step. If this is not possible, people should try to hide behind or under something and to remember silence their cell phones.

“You have to be very careful. But I want to warn people not to be so nervous that when they go out they’re not enjoying life,” Higgins said. “Statistically most people won’t be involved in an incident like this, but if it is, it can be very devastating.”

Mall Security and “Run, Hide, Fight”

As police find faster and more effective ways to respond to shooting incidents in public spaces, mall officials have beefed up their security systems, responses and training.

Dan Kennedy, senior vice president of US security operations at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, owners of Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, and 24 other US properties, said he sometimes lays up at night thinking to worst-case scenarios.

Kennedy, who worked in law enforcement for 27 years, including time with the FBI, said Unibail has a playbook for “every potential crisis situation,” which is revised as needed.

“Our goal is for people who visit our properties to see visible security and feel a sense of security,” he said. “They may not know all the work, drills and training behind it, but rest assured it’s all in place.”

Every year, all Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield properties undergo a security assessment, and twice a year they conduct active shooter and natural disaster training, Kennedy said. At least once a month, if not weekly, the general manager and directors of security meet with the police to review security plans.

“We’re focusing on active shooters because of the escalation of events in the country over the past decade,” Kennedy said. “We work closely with the Paramus Police Department because safety is our #1 priority.”

Every tenant of the Paramus Mall is briefed on the Department of Homeland Security’s protocol for active shooter situations, called “Run, Hide, Fight.”

The International Council of Shopping Centers released a seven-minute video about the “run, hide, fight” guidelines Kennedy implemented for its tenants and new hires.

“Because we are at the center of these types of incidents, the United States is better prepared than other countries because we have to [be]”said Higgins, who organized the response when a 20-year-old shooter fired multiple bullets near other shoppers before shooting himself dead at Garden State Plaza in 2013. “But as far as we went, I still think we have some way forward.”

What can you do?

Every mall has a safety plan in place for most emergencies, safety experts said, but it’s important for visitors to plan for their own safety.

People need to be fully aware of their surroundings, Higgins said.

“If you hear what you think are gunshots, get behind an object where preferably a bullet can’t pass or, in the worst case, you can’t be seen,” he said. -he declares.

Buyers, especially parents with children, should have a contingency plan of where to meet if they become separated and who to call when safe.

Contributor: Cady Stanton, USA TODAY