[Grovenet] wall mart and 911

[Meredith Bliss]

I wouldn't put too much stock in these reports. Fox News, perhaps in a veiled 
attempt to support WalMart, has published a list of the locations generating 
the most "police disturbance calls" in Washington County 
(http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?s=4943426), a list including several 
transit centers, two Fred Meyer stores, a high school, and Washington Square. 

Trouble is, they don't say what these "police disturbance calls" are. In fact 
the vast majority of them are "officer initiated calls" like traffic stops or 
extra patrols. And then there are counterfeiters and shoplifting calls, as 
when store security nabbs someone on the way out with merchandise hidden in 
their clothes. Some stores prefer to let these folks walk free rather than 
have the police come and get them -- you get to pay either way, either 
through paying for police or higher prices to cover the losses.

Relatively few of the calls result from actual 9-1-1 emergency calls. The 
number of calls just tend to reflect where people are most active more than 
anything else. Sure WalMart will generate a lot of calls, but some of this is 
just alarmist, easily deflected by the WalMart flaks.

But one reason that WalMart has found it easier to invade other states is 
because of the sales tax. Local government usually gets a cut of sales taxes 
generated in their jurisdiction, so the more local sales the better, and if a 
big box can bring in more people from outlying areas, the city profits from 
it. But in Oregon, that's not the case, and most cities just see big box 
retailers as a drain on scarce resources with little compensation. And if 
they displace higher wage jobs, that doesn't do the city any good either.

On Tuesday 23 May 2006 09:30, Cornelius First wrote:
> Hi Steven,
>
> You will find that Lane county is probably similar as well.  Since 2002
> once store alone (on Lancaster) had nearly 1000 calls to police and fire -
> including an attempted  kidnapping! This is a combination of the 24 hour
> operation and the fact that Wal-Mart chooses not to police their own
> parking lots.  They instead push the responsibility of enforcement onto
> local fire and police and they prosecute EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.  No
> exceptions.  If you are caught shoplifting at Wal-Mart, the police will be
> called.
>
> I think that the City of Cornelius has no idea how little of the proposed
> tax revenue they will see when it is spent on hiring officers who will
> essentially be running back and forth to Wal-Mart each day.  Add to that
> the cost of upkeep on the roads and I think it's safe to say that we won't
> gain much.
>
> Pennywise and pound foolish.  We'll see how wonderful of a neighbor
> Wal-Mart is, if allowed to build.
>
> >From: "Steven" <NoSpam03 at comcast.net>
> >Reply-To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> >To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> >Subject: [Grovenet] wall mart and 911
> >Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 06:58:34 -0700
> >
> >I heard on the radio that the largest single response for emergencies was
> >to
> >Wal-Mart in Clackamas County. Something over 500 calls a year. Multnomah
> >county had similar data.
> >
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-- 
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Just happy to be here, but speaking 
only for myself!
Meredith Bliss --- www.rdrop.com/~mbliss
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