Big retailers are paying for police protection
Walgreens, Target join Home Depot in requesting dedicated officers at sites
OAKLAND >> In an apparent effort to reduce crime inside and outside their stores, Walgreens and Target are joining Home Depot in paying overtime to Oakland police officers for some protection.
Walgreens and Target last month asked the Oakland Police Department to provide officers at their locations, police spokesman Paul Chambers confirmed. The department, which in 2019 allowed officers to work overtime at Home Depot, agreed.
At an hourly overtime rate of $91.43 plus a 15.5% fee the city charges for officers’ service, Home Depot has paid out $2.1 million since the arrangement began in March 2019, according to Chambers.
Walgreens has eight store locations in Oakland that are open 14 hours a day, seven days a week. Chambers said the Police Department has not billed Walgreens or Target for the recent police detail, which started in midJanuary. Police did not say how many officers have been assigned to the stores or indicate how long their shifts were.
But on a recent morning, the Bay Area News Group saw Oakland police officers stationed at all eight Walgreens stores. Uniformed officers were inside four stores in East Oakland and another on East 18th Street near Lake Merritt, with a marked police car parked outside. Officers inside lighted squad cars also were parked at the entrance — in some cases on the sidewalk in front of the store — at two locations on Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland and another on Lakeshore Avenue. Target has a store on Broadway and one on 27th Street.
Several speakers at a recent police commission meeting said they had noticed the police presence at Walgreens stores.
Officers work at the stores on their days off, assigned through the department’s special events unit. The unit also provides officers for events at the Coliseum, concerts and festivals. According to the city, the 15.5% fee goes to the city’s coffers.
Chambers said the businesses are provided a cost estimate and can request officers at their stores when needed; they’re billed directly by the Police Department.
News of the arrangement has been met with a mix of support and skepticism.
Councilman Noel Gallo is all for it.
“Considering all the robberies we have daily, the assaults on the parking lots — I’ve been around there when the robberies are occurring inside,” he said, referring to Walgreens’ Fruitvale location. He added that the arrangement could help reduce the number of calls to police.
“We have so many standing calls that go unanswered, that aren’t priorities, sadly enough,” Gallo said. “If I break into your house, you are going to be on the waiting list. If your car gets broken into, you are going on the waiting list.”
Gallo said having officers stationed at Home Depot has helped.
“By having two police officers there in their vehicles, one is patrolling around and one is stationary right at the exit door, it made a big difference. They said it made a dramatic change in their sales, people are coming and the employees feel safe.”
It’s unclear whether the data supports that testament. Though police said the retailers’ locations account for a sizable number of daily calls, they did not respond to follow-up questions about what types of calls were occurring at all three retailers to justify the arrangement. Walgreens and Target did not answer questions about whether the arrangement has reduced the crimes they sought to prevent, or provide any other comment.
Robberies involving a firearm are up 41% over the same period last year throughout the city, according to data published by the Police Department through Sunday. Robberies using knives and strong-arm robberies have decreased, and reported larceny crimes and commercial burglaries each are down 46% from the same time last year.
“Before our officers assisted at the stores, these businesses were using a high amount of our resources,” Chambers said. “While providing this service, the benefit is we have more officers answering emergency calls and not out of service taking the robbery and burglary reports.”
Pamela Drake, the former director of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District and member of the Coalition For Police Accountability, expressed some skepticism about the deal.
“This seems like a screwy arrangement,” Drake said. “If something happens, which is inevitable, who is going to be liable for that bad response?”
Though officers work outside their normal shifts for the detail, “They are not under the direction or supervision of the store’s management,” Chambers said. He said they still have to abide by Police Department rules and are supervised by command staffers.
Still, the arrangement blurs lines between private and public policing, and Drake said she also wonders whether it is right to have armed police officers securing the stores.
“Whether we should have armed people at these stores, I think that is something that should be a public discussion,” she said, adding that she hopes the police commission looks into it.
Councilman Dan Kalb, who represents District 1, also has qualms about the deal.
In addition to concerns that armed officers could escalate store situations such as shoplifting, Kalb said he wonders whether the overtime could be better spent on other police work.
The City Council last year passed a resolution declaring that a reduction of gun violence should be the Police Department’s top priority.
It’s unclear how much of the crimes at the specific stores have overlapped with gun violence, although robberies with a firearm increased citywide this year, the Police Department’s data showed. Chambers did not answer questions this week about whether there are any limits on the number of shifts that officers could sign up for.
Some, including Kalb and Drake, also have raised the specter of inequity.
Small stores, particularly those hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, cannot afford to pay for the police overtime hours and related service fees that Walgreens, Target and Home Depot are financing.
“Is it fair to have a situation where lots of small businesses would want that (protection), but they can’t afford it?” Kalb asked.