Policing Convenience Store Crime: Lessons from the Glendale, Arizona Smart Policing Initiative

• Date: 01 September 2013
• Author: Michael D. White,Charles M. Katz
• Published date: 01 September 2013
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611113497045
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Policing Convenience

Store Crime: Lessons

from the Glendale,

Arizona Smart Policing

Initiative

Michael D. White

1

and

Charles M. Katz

1

Abstract

The Glendale, Arizona Police Department received funding in 2009 through the

Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). The Glendale team

employed problem-oriented policing to address crime and disorder at convenience

stores throughout the city. The SPI team’s analysis demonstrated that crime was

disproportionately occurring at Circle K stores and that store management practices

were largely responsible for the crime problem. The Glendale SPI team developed a

multipronged response that included intervention with Circle K leadership and the

implementation of prevention and suppression strategies. Results indicate that crime

dropped significantly at the SPI target stores (42%) from the year preceding the

intervention to the year after. This decline is inconsistent with crime patterns wit-

nessed at the remaining convenience stores in the city of Glendale. The article con-

cludes with a discussion of how police departments can successfully engage with

private sector corporations on issues of crime, disorder, and community safety.

Keywords

problem-oriented policing, SARA, convenience store crime

1

School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety,

Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Corresponding author:

Michael D. White, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Center for Violence Prevention

and Community Safety, Arizona State University, 411N Central Avenue, Room 600, Phoenix,

AZ 85004, USA.

Email: mdwhite1@asu.edu

Police Quarterly

16(3) 305–322

!The Author(s) 2013

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1098611113497045

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Introduction

A suspect accused of shooting a man who intervened in a beer theft at a Phoenix

convenience store last year was arrested in Mexico over the weekend...Manuel

Salazar III is accused of shooting Lance Taylor to death in front of his family at

a Circle K near McDowell Road and 43rd Avenue on Feb. 19, 2010. Salazar tried

to steal two 30-packs of beer from the store. Taylor blocked his path and told him

to return the beer. Salazar put the beer back in the cooler then reportedly pulled a

handgun from his waistband and pointed it at one of the clerks as he walked

toward the doors. Salazar then had words with Taylor’s wife and hit her in the

head with his gun on his way out of the store...Taylor followed Salazar outside and

was shot during a confrontation. He died at a local hospital.

1

From 2005 to 2008, the City of Glendale, Arizona, experienced violent and

property crime rates that were significantly above the national average. For

example, in 2006, the violent and property crime rates in Glendale (per

100,000) were 619.1 and 5,095.5, compared to national rates of 473.6 and

3,334.5. Over the next few years, Glendale experienced significant declines in

violence, as the violent crime rate dropped by nearly 30% to 449.7 per 100,000 in

2009 (compared to a national rate of 431.9). However, property crime rates

remained persistently high in Glendale and peaked at 5234.6 in 2008—63%

higher than the national average.

In 2009, the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department and its research partners

at Arizona State University’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community

Safety received funding through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Smart

Policing Initiative (SPI) to target crime—particularly property crime—through

problem-oriented policing. The SPI provides funding to law enforcement agen-

cies to test solutions to serious crime problems in their jurisdictions. Through the

SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) process, the Glendale SPI

team identified crime and disorder at convenience stores as the target problem.

The team selected this issue because the problem was chronic (tied to persistently

high property crime rates), because it placed a significant burden on police

resources, and because it threatened the safety of both customers and store

employees. Indeed, from 2008 to 2010, a number of incidents occurred in the

Phoenix metropolitan area in which thefts from convenience stores escalated

into violence, much like the fatal case described earlier involving Lance Taylor.

This article examines the implementation and impact of the Glendale SPI,

which was grounded in the SARA model. The Glendale SPI team began the

SARA process with 20 hours of classroom based training on advanced problem-

oriented policing. The Glendale SPI team included a sector lieutenant, two

specialized units, each staffed with a sergeant, six to nine police officers, and a

civilian community action officer (CAT) specializing in crime prevention, a crime

306 Police Quarterly 16(3)