Once a month, I receive a series of emails from the community service officer with the Minneapolis Police Department reporting on criminal activity in the five neighborhoods closest to my home. The reports are delivered as screen shots from a crime reporting system called GeoMaster:
Longfellow Neighborhood,
Minneapolis Feb 1 - Mar 6 2006
Each mark on the map signifies a reported crime. Crimes marked in red (Homicide, Rape, Agg Assault, Auto Theft) are worse than blue crimes (robbery, burglary, larceny) and arson is green. This particular neighborhood consists of commercial zoning to the West and residential to the East with the exception of Lake St, the main E-W thoroughfare, which is also commercial. It would be nice if they'd switch to using Google Maps, but that's probably not going to happen any time soon.
Notice the tight grouping of blue dots left-center on the map. What makes this such a hot sport for crime? That is the location of a
Target store. And that means a
lot of people have been caught shoplifting over the past month. And the same thing happens month after month after month. They should post a sign on the door that says, "Don't shoplift here. You will be caught. We're really good at catching thieves."
Don't Mess with Target While Target is better known as a discount retailer of household goods and Isaac Mizrahi fashions than security, they know a few things about surveillance and forensics as well. They use high tech surveillance to control losses from their stores. And, as
Anderson Cooper reported on his blog, Target also puts their surveillance expertise to work fighting crimes unrelated to their retail business:
"Turns out Target has one of the most advanced crime labs in the country at its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was initially set up to deal with things like theft, fraud, and personal injury cases in their stores. Now, Target also helps law enforcement agencies nationwide solve crimes, even murders. Target has worked with the Secret Service, the ATF, and the FBI, to name a few."
The Washington Post wrote about
Target's police work last month:
"Besides running its forensics lab in Minneapolis, Target has helped coordinate national undercover investigations and worked with customs agencies on ways to make sure imported cargo is coming from reputable sources or hasn't been tampered with. It has contributed money for prosecutor positions to combat repeat criminals, provided local police with remote-controlled video surveillance systems, and linked police and business radio systems to beef up neighborhood foot patrols in parts of several major cities. It has given management training to FBI and police leaders, and linked city, county and state databases to keep track of repeat offenders."
That makes me wonder why we haven't hired Target to run our ports. But should they?
Does this tell us that corporations can do a better job than police at crime fighting? That police departments are far more underfunded and understaffed than this Fortune 100 company? Is corporate police work the most appropriate way to fight crime? There are some who cringe as such tight relationships between corporations and government. The Minneapolis weekly,
CityPages, warned against Target's proposal to donate security cameras to Minneapolis for use in an area nowhere near their retail store in an article titled
Big Brother's Corporate Sponsor.
What are your thoughts on this new trend in corporate crime fighting? Share them in the comments below.
1. Posted by: Roald Marth on March 7, 2006 10:24 AM:
Ed, I am amazed at your various interests and the breadth of your knowledge. A very insightful article about technology and crime. Congrats Ro