The convenience store industry is committed to offering a safe environment for its employees and customers. Toward this end, the industry has developed security measures, based on years of research and working with law enforcement agencies around the country, that have significantly reduced the incidence of crime in stores.
Convenience stores have taken the lead in deterring crime.
One robbery is one robbery too many, and that's why the convenience store industry is so committed to effective robbery deterrence practices. The convenience store industry has been a leader in developing strategies to make our stores safe places to shop and work.
- As far back as the 1970s and 1980s, the industry was at the lead in researching practices that would deter robberies.
- Robbery deterrence strategies that have been implemented include cash control and visibility enhancements, as well as employee training, which have been proven deterrents recommended safety experts.
The convenience store industry has a proven record of crime deterrence.
According to sources like the FBI, the industry's crime-deterrence efforts are paying off:
- 80 percent of all convenience stores are crime-free in any given year.
- In fact, convenience store robbery has decreased 16 percent since 1996.
- When crimes do take place in convenience stores, it's in a small percentage of our industry's total store population. And, in many cases, those stores experiencing crime are in neighborhoods where several factors are contributing to higher crime rates for the entire area.
NACS' latest crime census, from March 2002, shows that validated security measures continue to be effective, with most crime continuing to decline at convenience stores
- Between 2000 and 2001, homicides decreased 27 percent, sexual assaults decreased 28 percent, and "other" violent crime decreases 19 percent. However, robberies did increase 19 percent.
- In a survey, representing 299 companies and 7,965 stores, 84 percent of stores reported zero robberies in 2001, and an additional 12 percent reported one robbery.
Crime is not limited to certain hours of the day.
Crime can happen any time. Our industry strongly supports crime deterrence measures that work for all hours the store is open.
- About 76 percent of convenience stores across the country are open 24 hours a day.
- Convenience stores offer convenience for members of the community. Stores stay open 24 hours to serve customers who need them - whether they are second- or third-shift workers, parents needing emergency supplies for a sick child, or just someone who wants a late-night snack.
- The proven crime deterrence measures -- employee training, cash control policy and good visibility practices -- are the most effective measures to reduce crime at any time of the day.
The convenience store industry is committed to stores that are safe places for both customers and employees.
Convenience stores are a microcosm of the communities that they serve, both good and bad. However, the vast majority of stores are robbery-free in a given year. Convenience stores have a strong record for improving safety in our stores and reducing crime according to FBI data. Several of the industry's most important crime deterrence strategies include:
- Training employees how to spot suspicious behavior and notify the police.
- Keeping low amounts of cash in the cash register through the use of drop safes. By reducing the cash on hand, you reduce the incentive to rob.
- Keeping store windows free of unnecessary signage so that employees can monitor activities outside the store.
- Using effective lighting both inside and outside the store to improve visibility.
- Eliminating escape routes around and behind stores, which increase the likelihood that a would-be criminal will be spotted and arrested.
The industry has adopted validated security measures that are effective in reducing crime.
The convenience store industry has been at the forefront in researching the most effective robbery deterrence strategies. In fact, the industry's strategies are so respected that the federal government has endorsed them. Here's what we know:
- Employee training, cash control policy and good visibility practices are the foundation of effective robbery deterrence strategies.
- The majority of the nation's convenience stores do not experience crime.
- Those stores that do experience crime need to consider the circumstances of the crime, the neighborhood in which they operate, and work with local law enforcement to determine what other practices, such as camera systems or security guards, would be most effective.
- The key is to identify strategies that will be most effective on a location-by-location basis. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for deterrence practices beyond employee training, cash control and visibility practices - and the industry is committed to those fundamentals.
Requiring multiple clerks to serve all shifts is not the stand-alone solution to reducing crime.
As part of the convenience store industry's commitment to safe stores, we've studied multiple staffing and other practices and here's what the research has revealed:
- Employee training, cash control policy and good visibility practices are the foundation of effective robbery deterrence strategies.
- Two or more clerks can actually pose more risks in some situations because employees feel more emboldened to try to overcome an assailant or resist a robber. Law enforcement studies have found that the risk of violence is 49 times more likely when you resist a robber.
- In addition, the number of clerks on duty is not a deterrent to robbers. Our industry has interviewed convicted robbers and this research reveals that the key deterrents are alert employees, low amounts of cash in the register and good visibility inside and outside the store.