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Retailer Target Branches Out Into Police Work
Computer screens at Target's forensics lab promote its ties with law enforcement.
(By Ben Garvin For The Washington Post)
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Besides helping law enforcement solve crimes, Target has a prevention program called "Safe City." It began two years ago in a police precinct in Minneapolis and has spread to dozens of other cities including Washington, Boston, New York and Atlanta.
In the Washington area, Target is using Safe City at two stores in Prince George's County -- at Forestville Mall and P.G. Plaza, with increased cooperation between its own security officials and law enforcement in patrolling areas around the buildings.
Modeled after a community surveillance program in England, Safe City uses video and computer equipment to help police patrol neighborhoods by remote control, coordinated with security workers at participating businesses.
Target also has been paying for a lawyer and a paralegal in the Minneapolis prosecutor's office through its charitable foundation, with an emphasis on prosecuting repeat criminals. "They don't just give us money -- they demand accountability," said Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. "There were huge strings attached when we received the funding for our new staff, and we were expected to routinely communicate how the money was used and what kind of results we'd gained. Here's an example: In the past, the DA's office tracked input numbers [how many criminals were charged], though once we were working with Target, we were required to track output numbers, or how many convictions we get in a year."
Before Target's involvement, the prosecutor won convictions for about three repeat criminals a year. Since adding the new staff and changing how it operates, the prosecutor now has more than 90 such convictions in a year.
Target's latest ventures include building a forensics lab for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, including FBI and other agency officials in their corporate leadership programs and providing various agencies with "sting trailers," trucks filled with electronics and other merchandise to lure criminals -- and containing wireless devices that send information to police. The company also has run programs for the World Customs Organization to determine how to protect cargo through advanced technical systems and "smart boxes."
Such close cooperation sometimes has Target employees working as de facto law enforcement officials. Chris W. Nelson, director of assets protection for the retailer, recalled one case in which he worked with federal agents for two years to break up a crime ring. He questioned informants, got to know some of the suspects and was there as a federal SWAT team surrounded one of the ringleaders on a speedboat on a lake in Minnesota.
The suspect "stopped short as he spotted me in the crowd and shouted, 'What the [expletive] is Target doing here?!' " Nelson said. "I still love that one."
