IF I owned a small strip mall-—I would offer—rent free—a space to the local police/sheriff.
Even small towns need to fight against stupids.
IF I owned a large mall-—I would make sure it was designed with a space large enough to have a police substation & anything else they wanted. Rent Free.
Would be cheaper than a lawsuit over being swarmed by thugs.
I used to live in a subdivision north of Houston that had fallen into disrepair and had a reputation for drug houses (mostly because it was true). New owners, such as myself, and new HOA management (including myself) started changing things around. We put up a guard shack at the entrance with a restroom, and an A/C & heater. We put coffee, donuts, and snacks in the shack with internet service and then asked the local sheriff’s, constables, and Texas Game Wardens to feel free to use our shack for a break, to complete their paperwork, to use the restroom, or whatever!
Crime in our neighborhood dropped PRECIPITOUSLY! I’m sure it was just a coincidence. When the next HOA board came on about four years later (mostly complaining of the “extra costs to feed the police”) they pulled all those benefits and our crime rates skyrocketed...just another coincidence.
I sold my property about 16 months later; if they want to keep the riff-raff, they can have them, without my presence!
“Even small towns need to fight against stupids.”
It does seem sometime that a lot of people are “stupid”, but we are bombarded by institutions (the media) that very expertly concoct messages intended to take us to certain conclusions.
The media tells us with distortion part of what’s going on and leaves out other important parts of what’s going on. The presenters are so smooth and beautiful, the pictures so beautiful, complete with background music. Compelling.