Longtime crime watchers in Bethlehem would likely notice one frequent player gracing the police blotter pages: Walmart in Glenmont. To some observers, it would seem the flashing lights of Bethlehem police cars arrive often at the Route 9W store.
In an effort to shed light on exactly how often the Bethlehem Police Department finds itself at 311 Route 9W, The Spotlight has reviewed police records from the years 2010 and 2011. Those records show the police department answered a total of 727 calls at the Walmart Glenmont address. Although that’s about one call every day, police say that’s not the entire picture.
“Altogether, we usually receive 50,000 calls each year,” said Lt. Thomas Heffernan of the Bethlehem Police Department. “Really, like 300 calls each year out of 50,000 I would say is low. The numbers are the facts.”
The number represents all police officer- and public-generated calls for Walmart’s address. Some of the calls are for incidents that may have no relation to the store, such as traffic stops in front of the plaza.
Of the 727 calls over two years, 123 are related to larceny or shoplifting. Heffernan said the majority of calls to the location are from people who locked themselves out of their cars or were related to the need for Emergency Medical Services.
“To my knowledge, we are one of the few police departments that still provide lockout service in the Capital Region,” he said. “Emergency calls obviously take priority over others, but we do it in our down time.”
Between 2010 and 2011, there were 82 calls to police from people who were locked out of their vehicles at Walmart. There were 63 calls for ambulance response to the Route 9W address.
Heffernan said given the number of people who visit the store each week, thefts are relatively rare. The number of recorded larceny calls average about 1.2 calls each week over the two years.
Diana Gee, a corporate spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores who works with the company’s Asset Protection Team, said the Glenmont location gets thousands of weekly visitors.
“You have to put it in perspective of the sheer number of customers we have,” she said. “We put a lot of resources into our loss prevention units because we want to provide a safe and secure shopping environment. Unfortunately, criminal activity happens in every community so we have to take it seriously. We try to stop them so those individuals don’t attempt that same crime at other area businesses.”
Records show in the past two calendar years, there was one attempt to steal a laptop from a display case, two attempts to steal televisions and 17 reported incidents of purses, wallets, or cell phones being stolen. One female shoplifter was seen in an aisle unwrapping CDs, and someone attempted to rob the bank or ATM inside Walmart four times.
Some of the thefts also involved employees.
There were six employee-related theft calls in two years. One attempted to steal nearly $20,000 worth of merchandise, according to police records.
“I can tell you one reason that (Walmart) does get a high number of arrests is they do have a very good loss prevention team that works very closely with us and the officers responding,” said Heffernan. “Whereas other areas of town may not have as good loss prevention. So is it that they don’t have theft or they don’t have someone there to prevent it?”
According to police records, there were a total of 16 violence-related calls over two years, with two sexual assault incidents and one drug-related call. Another was for an overdose.
Heffernan said the number of drug-related calls was “very low.” And violence isn’t their main concern at the store.
There was an attempted rape in the parking lot in November of 2011.
David Antonio Diaz of Auburn Hills, Mich., was arrested after he allegedly attempted to force his female victim to commit a sexual act inside of his car, while he was working at the store selling newspaper subscriptions. He was identified and arrested through surveillance footage.
Heffernan said he could not speak to the amount of arrests of non-Bethlehem residents versus Bethlehem residents because he would need to go back and research each arrest.
The Glenmont Walmart cut back its hours at the beginning of 2008, and according to a previous Spotlight investigation the number of arrests being made was halved following the change.
“I think part of the reason may have been internal theft, but that’s just my speculation,” said Heffernan. “There is probably less supervision during those hours. They may have felt closing down overnight would minimize theft.”
Gee said she could not confirm that crime was the ultimate reason for the change in hours.
“As I mentioned, there are always a variety of factors taken into consideration on how we best operate stores,” she said. “In evaluating the ways we do business, we always look for ways to drive efficiency so we can keep our costs down and pass along the savings to our customers.”
Heffernan said he is unsure how much each call response from police officers ends up costing taxpayers. It depends on many factors, such as how much time the call takes, how many officers are sent and if any officers have to go to court because of an arrest.
According to the most recent available tax roll information, the assessed value of the Glenmont Walmart is $12.6 million and the company paid about $84,000 in town property taxes last year. Of that, $6,675 went to the town’s general fund that houses the police department’s $7.5 million budget.
“When you look at numbers up front they look large, but when you break it down it’s not that big of a deal,” said Heffernan. “I don’t want to say there is no impact. Any call is man hours and takes manpower, but it’s manageable with a plan for (a business) of that size.”
Calls for 311 Route 9W in 2010-2011:
Leaving the Scene of an Accident- 15
Accident: other- 2
Personal Injury: Auto- 10
Property Damage: Auto- 57
Burglary- 3
Bank Burglary- 1
Other Accidents 911- 41
Animal Control-3
Animal Cruelty- 12
Arrests (other)- 2
Ambulance Assists- 63
Citizen Assists- 10
Fire Assists- 3
Assist: other- 3
Criminal Mischief-4
Civil Dispute-2
Domestic Dispute- 2
Drug Related- 1
Forgery-3
Harassment-7
General Larceny Petit/Grand- 58
Shoplifting Larceny Petit/Grand-65
Motor Vehicle Stop-56
Noise Complaint-1
Overdose-1
Suspicious and unwanted-19
Sex Offense- 2
Abandoned Vehicle- 1
Parking Violation-6
Vehicle Lockout-82
Vehicle Stolen-2
Domestic Violence-4
Violence: Assault-2
Violence Fight-9
Total: 727
