CHAPTER SIX - HEADING FOR THE FINISH LINE
Occasionally we run into someone having sex in and around the mall. Or an occasion we have sexual perverts and predators causing problems. One Christmas holiday season I got a call from a tenant that he noticed a nearby photo booth rocking back and forth. He thought something weird was going on inside the photo booth. When I arrived it was obvious that something was happening. I stealthily approached the booth and threw back the curtain which revealed a 14 year old boy being serviced orally by a 14 year old girl. The photo booth was out of order and I guess they thought this would give them some privacy. On another occasion I got a call that something was going on in the east parking lot over by Sears. When I arrived on scene there was a car and all the windows were fogged up. I tapped on the window and it was obvious that a teenage girl was orally servicing a teenage boy in the front seat while a girl was filming it on her cell phone in the backseat.
One day I got a call that a woman was complaining about a man exposing himself in front of her, and her children, near Versona. Upon arrival I spotted him sitting in a pick-up truck getting ready to back out of a parking space. We are not supposed to block people but I parked right behind him so he couldn't leave until the police arrived. The woman was so mad I thought that she was going to attack him before they arrived. It turned out that he had been arrested at Wal-Mart the previous month for the same thing. The sad thing was that he was only 18 years old.
One morning I got a call from our maintenance man on the radio that a man was being belligerent near the west end restrooms. I asked him if I needed to call 911 but he didn't respond verbally. He keyed his mike and I could hear a man shouting a stream of profanity and it sounded like he was threatening to kill our maintenance man. I called 911 and hurried to his location as I was on the phone with the dispatcher. Upon arrival I found out that the man wasn't talking to our maintenance man but someone on the other end of his cell phone. I remained on the phone with the 911 operator while I followed him through the mall. The man eventually got into the passenger side of a car and rode off with another man. I found out later that the police stopped him near Red Lobster across the road from the mall. He was in possession of an illegal firearm, along with a bag of dope. In addition to this he had several felony warrants. I also found out that he was the same man that we had had arrested, and permanently banned from the mall, for exposing himself to girls at our cosmetology school a year earlier.
Early on the morning of June 9, 2015 I got a call from Hancock Fabrics. A teenage male had approached two female employees as they were walking through the parking lot. They said that the kid made them feel very uncomfortable. When they walked into the store and locked the door behind them he began beating on the glass demanding to be let him in. I set out to find him and called a police officer friend of mine who was patrolling the area nearby. He was one of our off duty police officers that worked at the mall. Someone spotted the teenager behind Olive Garden and I relayed this information to the police officer. The officer caught up with him and was questioning him when I arrived on scene. He told the boy to lean over on his patrol car while he checked in with dispatch. The boy kept standing up and the officer asked if he was getting ready to run No sooner than he got the words out of his mouth the kid took off running. This kid was 14 and the officer was pushing fifty but he kept up with him and with the help of back-up was able to cuff him at the edge of mall property. He turned out to be a convicted sex offender from Memphis who had escaped from a special school in our area. My police officer friend once told me that he had been in more foot chases at our mall than anywhere he had ever worked.
Early on the morning of June 9, 2015 I got a call from Hancock Fabrics. A teenage male had approached two female employees as they were walking through the parking lot. They said that the kid made them feel very uncomfortable. When they walked into the store and locked the door behind them he began beating on the glass demanding to be let him in. I set out to find him and called a police officer friend of mine who was patrolling the area nearby. He was one of our off duty police officers that worked at the mall. Someone spotted the teenager behind Olive Garden and I relayed this information to the police officer. The officer caught up with him and was questioning him when I arrived on scene. He told the boy to lean over on his patrol car while he checked in with dispatch. The boy kept standing up and the officer asked if he was getting ready to run No sooner than he got the words out of his mouth the kid took off running. This kid was 14 and the officer was pushing fifty but he kept up with him and with the help of back-up was able to cuff him at the edge of mall property. He turned out to be a convicted sex offender from Memphis who had escaped from a special school in our area. My police officer friend once told me that he had been in more foot chases at our mall than anywhere he had ever worked.
Nothing angers me more than when I see children being abused or neglected by adults who should know better. I see plenty of this at the mall. Young children are frequently left by themselves in the play area while the parents go off to shop. Sometimes for hours. We will find them roaming the mall by themselves looking for their parents. This is scary because I know that sexual predators are frequently in the mall just looking for such an opportunity. The more responsible parents will report these children to us.
One afternoon I got a call to Chuckee Cheese in the mall where there were several birthday party's going on. The restaurant manager told me that it appeared that an older child had used her younger sister to steal a customers cell phone while he had his back turned. When I looked at the restaurant video footage I realized that it wasn't an older sister but the child's mother that had put her up to stealing the phone. Just then an employee walked in and told me that if I wanted to do something, I had better hurry because she is leaving. I hurried outside where she was standing with a little girl that couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old. I said something like "Ma'am, I was told that your child may have a cell phone that doesn't belong to her". She turned to the little girl and said "Honey, did you take somebody's cell phone"? The little girl began to cry and said "Mommy, you told me to." With all the restraint I could muster I calmly told her that I considered this not only theft but child abuse.
The phone cost about 750 dollars and at that time a theft of 500 or more was a felony. I called 911, and also called for back-up because many in her party seemed to be angry because I called the police. There was way more of them and only two of us. I was sweating it out until the police arrived. Upon arrival they arrested the woman but discreetly removed the child so she wouldn't have to see her mother being handcuffed. One of the officers that was handling the situation was not only one of the prettiest female officers on the police force but she was also one of the toughest and most professional.
The phone cost about 750 dollars and at that time a theft of 500 or more was a felony. I called 911, and also called for back-up because many in her party seemed to be angry because I called the police. There was way more of them and only two of us. I was sweating it out until the police arrived. Upon arrival they arrested the woman but discreetly removed the child so she wouldn't have to see her mother being handcuffed. One of the officers that was handling the situation was not only one of the prettiest female officers on the police force but she was also one of the toughest and most professional.
I heard a man, who happened to be Black, giving the man who owned the cell phone hell because he reported his phone missing. I wasn't going to let this man take the heat when I was the one who called the police. I said "excuse me sir". He arrogantly turned to me and said "I'm not talking to you I'm talking to him". I got in his face and said "oh, but I am talking to you". Again, he rudely told me to go away because he wasn't talking to me. I then told him to leave mall property. He told me that he wasn't leaving because this was public property and he had a 1st Amendment right to say anything that he wanted to. I told him no, that this was private property and I told him to leave again. I then heard a female voice behind me firmly tell the man that he had to go. The female police officer heard our exchange, while filling out a report in her patrol car. The man asked her if I was being racist. She told him no, that I wasn't being racist, and he needed to leave. He angrily left without further argument.
For some reason many people think that a mall is public property. A security officer's primary job is to observe, report, deter and to detect. We are not police officers and virtually have no more authority than the average citizen. As security officers, however; we represent the mall's interests and if we tell someone to leave, and they refuse to go, they are guilty of criminal trespass at that point. This is where our real power lies as a security officer. We can't physically make a person leave mall property but the police can, and will, when we call them. On very rare occasions the police have not backed us up. If that happens, it is usually a new police officer who is not well versed in the concept of property rights. When I complain to MPD leadership they will always back us up and the offending officer is called on the carpet about it.
One Spring day, in early May, the temperatures were topping 90 degrees. One of the clerks at Books-A-Million called and told me that a customer noticed two small children locked up in a van with the windows rolled up and no adults were in the vehicle. When I arrived on scene there was a crowd forming. The windows were barely cracked and the car was not running. A baby boy was sweating profusely and screaming his head off in a baby seat on the rear passenger side. A male toddler, about the age of 3, was either passed out, or asleep in another baby seat on the rear drivers side. I called 911 and was seriously considering breaking out the windows when the fire department and EMT's arrived. Just about then the father showed up. To my surprise he was a Mennonite and was dressed in the garb. He and his wife were reading books in the bookstore while his kids roasted in his van.
One Spring day, in early May, the temperatures were topping 90 degrees. One of the clerks at Books-A-Million called and told me that a customer noticed two small children locked up in a van with the windows rolled up and no adults were in the vehicle. When I arrived on scene there was a crowd forming. The windows were barely cracked and the car was not running. A baby boy was sweating profusely and screaming his head off in a baby seat on the rear passenger side. A male toddler, about the age of 3, was either passed out, or asleep in another baby seat on the rear drivers side. I called 911 and was seriously considering breaking out the windows when the fire department and EMT's arrived. Just about then the father showed up. To my surprise he was a Mennonite and was dressed in the garb. He and his wife were reading books in the bookstore while his kids roasted in his van.
In July 2015 I got a call that an SUV was running with two small children strapped in the backseat and there were no adults around. This time the car was unlocked and running but at least the parent thought to leave the AC on. I called our on site police officer who then called dispatch. When police back-up arrived the father showed up. He was eating in a nearby restaurant and noticed the police activity. The father was just a kid himself. As I understand Tennessee law it is only a misdemeanor to leave your children unattended in a hot car, or in a car that is running, as long as the children are not injured. It only becomes a felony if the children are harmed by your negligence. On at least two other occasions I have answered calls where the moms left their babies strapped in a running car with the doors unlocked while they shopped for well over an hour.
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