An Anne Arundel County councilman plans to introduce legislation to require large shopping centers to install security cameras in parking areas, after a recent robbery attempt at Arundel Mills mall in Hanover, where a new slots parlor has been proposed.
Councilman Daryl D. Jones said the cameras would serve as an added crime-fighting tool for police and prosecutors. The proposed legislation is largely modeled after a 2005 law in Baltimore County, which was passed after a teacher was fatally shot in the parking lot of Towson Town Center.
Jones said that in addition to Arundel Mills - one of the county's largest revenue sources - the legislation will target other prominent shopping centers in the county, including Annapolis Town Center at Parole and Marley Station mall in Glen Burnie.
"Particularly with Arundel Mills, there's a perception that there's a crime problem," said Jones, a Democrat who represents the area around the mall. "It's incumbent upon the county to try to protect the citizens."
The County Council is currently weighing a zoning bill to allow slots on the grounds of Arundel Mills. Opponents of the measure say slots likely will bring more crime to the area. Jones said he would present his proposed legislation, which would likely include a provision for low-interest loans for malls to acquire the cameras, to the council in the fall.
The latest violent incident at Arundel Mills, on June 23, left a 24-year-old woman with minor injuries after four teens attacked her as she walked from the mall about 6 p.m. She was tackled from behind as her attackers tried to take her purse. A passer-by foiled the attack.
Three teenage girls were charged with attempted robbery and assault.
Late last year, five people were robbed at gunpoint in parking lots at Arundel Mills and nearby stores. No one was injured, but the crimes included an armed robbery in which two men were forced to drive their attackers to ATMs and make withdrawals, a robbery at gunpoint in the parking lot and a purse-snatching. And a security guard was stabbed in the mall when he detained two men suspected of shoplifting.
Police statistics show that through May, there had been eight robberies in the mall parking lot. In 2008 there were 14.
Justin Mulcahy, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel police, said surveillance cameras near businesses have proved effective at helping police find criminals.
