Current Events > I'm a Mall Cop AMA

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you get a segway

Who is your favorite mall cop from a movie or TV show?

1. How many shoplifters do you bust on average in a week?

2. Tell us about a moment on the job that was close to making you quit.

3. What's the craziest person you had to deal with? I.e., crazy homeless person, crazy crackhead, etc.

4. What's the biggest bust you ever had? I.e., caught someone stealing jewelry or some other high end stuff.

5. Tell us something that most people wouldn't know about the job.

6. What's the most disgusting experience you had working this job?

7. How often do people get violent when you confront them?

8. How often do people pull weapons on you?

1. Zero. I'm not AP. I do not go into store's. I only handle stuff in the mall. And most the times I just call Police.
2. Guest was being disruptive. Detained him till Police could arrest him. He shit his pants, literally.
3. Guy started masturbating next to the kids play area
4. I'm not AP. I don't handle that stuff. That's up to the stores themselves to deal with. I am legally not allowed to get involved with that.
5. We're more like glorified door greeters who can detain people till Police come. We also get paid very little and work long hours.
6. Guy shitting in the sec room while we waited for Police to arrest him
7. Often. If they get an attitude I ask them to leave. If they don't we call Police. I have a right to detain you till Police arrest you.
8. Not often. But one of my co-workers had a guy pull a gun on him.

You have a favorite contingency plan involving the mall you work at in case the zombie apocalypse happens?

1. Did you have any prior experience doing security work, bouncer work, etc. before you got this job?

2. Did you have to take any classes before you started the job?

3. Do you carry any self defense items (I.e., taser, pepper spray, handcuffs, zip ties, etc.)? I'm assuming not much if anything based on your answers so far.

1. I worked LP. You don't need anything. Just be over 18 and willing to work a dead end thankless job. But, there are plenty of different sec jobs that pay better and give you a gun.
2. Nope. I didn't even get any training.
3. I got a radio and that's it. Nothing else. I can legally detain people but, that's only if they've refused to leave or other circumstances. Most big box stores have their own in house lost prevention. The smaller stores call Police. I do not detain shoplifters.

If you hate working at the mall why don't you ask your company for a different post? Or are you an actual employee of the mall? Most places contract out for private security. But a few do it in house.

How much do you weigh? How many doughnuts do you eat a day? Ever had trouble with skateboarders?

Were you too fat to get into the police academy?

If two young adults one day got on the motorized animal scooter things and started low-speed jousting with flimsy plastic lightsabers on a weekday, would you tell them to stop because they're being a bad influence on the kids who should be in school at the time anyway? Is that like a common thing you're supposed to discourage or was it just the guy at our local mall being a stick in the mud?

1. How often do you catch people getting stoned, high, drunk, etc. inside the mall?

2. If you can legally detain people in some situations, are you required/expected to do so, or can you just back off and let them go? I'm assuming you have to call it in to cops if it's something serious.

3. Are there any rules about where you're allowed to detain them? For example, a friend of mine who has experience as a bouncer said they're not allowed to chase people if they step off the premises for liability reasons if the person gets hurt and the bouncers are deemed the initial aggressors for chasing.

4. Do you ever spend time just watching monitors and watching security screens in the security room?

5. Who do you have to report to? Who's your boss? Does that person supervise you a lot, or are you kind of on your own?

1. Often. Usually late at night when traffic is dying down.
2. I take them to the security office and call Police. I legally can hold the. But, if they run or fight I just get a description and call Police. I'm not risking my life for $15/h
3. I can not chase them. It's a risk not worth taking. But, once they exit the doors not much I can do. I can radio a description and get one of our guys outside to catch them. But, usually it's not worth the hassle. There's very few of us and it's a big mall. We have 1 patrol outside 2 in door and our supervisor watching cameras.
4. No. Only our supervisor gets that luxury or the night crew. I've done it a couple times and it's boring as all hell. You have to give reports every hour.
5. I have a supervisor. The boss is head of security or the mall manager. I'm kinda on my own. I stand next to a kiosk and direct people who can't read to where they need to go. I don't patrol the mall premises. We have an outdoor team that have a golf cart that do.

Do you have a moustache?