HOUSTON – A proposal heading to the Houston City Council soon would require convenience store owners to register their businesses with the city and put in place drop safes, cameras and panic buttons, the Houston Chronicle reports.

On Monday, the council’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee voted to advance the proposed ordinance to the full council. The proposal’s purpose is to control crime at the city’s hundreds of convenience stores.

“This is a giant leap,” said Zaf Tahir, a Houston convenience store owner and chair of Mayor Bill White’s Task Force on Convenience Store Security. “Now, we have this industry on a path to a very safe and secure environment. … [However,] it’s not going to fix all of the problems. … This ordinance takes care of the training and of things that can be done at the stores. ... It needs to be coupled with increased presence of law enforcement.”

The Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association (TPCA) also supports the measure.

“Going in we were concerned about new ordinances coming from the Task Force, which could have been onerous to retailers,” said TPCA Director of Member Services and Governmental Affairs Doug DuBois Jr., who served on the Task Force “However, as research and discussions took place over many months of meetings, the ordinances were proposed by the Task Force and supported by all who participated, which included the majors and independents represented by the Greater Houston Retailers Association. Most of these companies have policies in place which are compliant with the ordinances and for those who must invest in security cameras or drop safes there is a two-year phase-in period.”

By registering convenience stores, the city would know how many retailers operate in Houston, which currently it does not know, Tahir said. If passed, the ordinance would require each convenience store location to have a minimum of two, color digital surveillance cameras, a drop safe for cash deposits and a panic button connected to a security company or police. These additions would cost store owners an average of $1,400; the retailers would have until 2010 to comply.

Meanwhile, across the country in Hartford, Connecticut, a new ordinance went into effect yesterday that requires convenience stores and gasoline stations open between the hours of 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. to install specific security measures, WTNH-TV reports. In order to operate during those hours, locations need a security camera, a drop safe and a silent alarm.

However, if, after implementing these safety measures, criminal activity still happens during the overnight hours, the store’s license to stay open during those times could be revoked.