How safe a business is inside late at night depends on the type of business and its location. And there’s even more going on behind the scenes that you may not be aware of.
How safe a business is inside late at night depends on the type of business and its location. And there’s even more going on behind the scenes that you may not be aware of.
Repeated incidents at certain gas stations, convenience stores and other locations open late in Prince George’s County, Maryland, have prompted all businesses to take adequate measures to ensure the safety of customers and employees. The lawmaker said that there is no such thing. Worse, she says, these companies are not being held accountable for their negligence.
That would change under a new bill introduced this week by Prince George’s County Councilor Crystal Oriada. She is proposing that the county require a “late night safety plan” for any business that operates from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“We’re seeing an increase in crime in certain properties, especially late at night,” O’Riada said, citing carjackings, robberies and other violent incidents.
And she acknowledges that there is no one solution that applies to all businesses, and no solution that works across the board. “These facilities can work with police departments to develop safety plans that make sense for their businesses.”
Oriada told WTOP that the bill would require companies to work with police to assess what they are doing right and what they can do better. Instead of owners waiting hours for police to get to the store and get in the back, she said, install better cameras or store surveillance video in a “cloud” system that employees can access. He proposed a hypothesis that companies would be required to: office.
“It may look different depending on your location,” she said. “We’re not going to prescribe what that looks like. Police have a better understanding of what’s going on in these different establishments and types of businesses.”
Police have been providing such services for many years and have reiterated that they are happy to provide security assessments to businesses that request them.
“There are many ways to protect yourself and your business,” Police Chief Malik Aziz said Thursday.
He said this in response to a question about what steps convenience stores could take to improve safety after another one was stolen from a Landover Hills ATM on Thursday morning. I mentioned the status of the species. One of the first things he mentioned was the security assessment provided by the police.
Much of the evaluation focuses on making sure the store has high-quality video cameras installed in a way that the videos cannot be stolen by thieves. These days, robbers not only ask for cash drawers, but also video systems.
“It’s our checks and measures to make sure these businesses are doing their due diligence to keep the community safe,” Oriada said.
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