Police Release Walmart Crime Data

Since opening in 2007 on the 3600-block of Washington Boulevard, Lansdowne Station has brought the community a Walmart, Bally Sport Center, Office Depot, Petco and several other retail stores and restaurants.

Along with the major commercial development came more than 1,000 jobs and thousands of customers from throughout southwest Baltimore County, Anne Arundel and Howard counties, and Baltimore City.

"Any time you bring a large number of people together, you're going to get criminal activity," said Capt. John Spiroff, commander of Precinct 1/Wilkens.

According to Spiroff and other Precinct 1/Wilkens officers, the Lansdowne Station area isn't a criminal hotspot.

"I don't know if it's any better or worse than any other Walmart," said assistant precinct commander Lt. Nancy Storke. "That [bleach brawl] incident the other day isn't the norm. A domestic incident can happen anywhere."

In response to a request from Arbutus Patch, Baltimore County police released all calls of service to the Lansdowe Station Walmart since it opened in 2007.

The data show that the majority of crimes that occur at the shopping center are targeted against Walmart, such as shoplifting and passing bad checks. Crimes against customers are less common, and have remained consistently low or declined over the years.

In some ways, the raw numbers can be deceptive, Storke said. More crime will be reported when shopping center security is vigilant and detecting more crime. "Their security is very good down there," she said.

What do you think? Do you feel safe at the Lansdowne Station shopping center? Tell us in our poll.

Nature of Police Call 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011* Total Investigative Anonymous calls/phone misuse 1 2 1 0 0 4 Bomb threat 0 2 0 1 0 3 Destruction of property 0 6 4 4 3 17 Disturbance 6 56 28 37 16 143 Fires, other 1 0 2 1 2 6 Prostitution 0 0 1 0 0 1 Narcotics, citizen initiated 0 0 1 1 1 3 Possession of deadly weapon 0 1 0 1 1 3 Suspicious subject 4 18 17 14 12 65 Tresspassing 1 5 6 2 2 16 Unknown trouble 0 0 1 0 0 1 Suspicious condition 1 7 4 9 7 28 Narcotics, officer initiated 1 8 6 11 9 35 Harassment 0 0 0 0 1 1 Total Investigative 15 105 71 81 54 326 Domestic Child abuse 0 3 3 3 2 11 Child neglect 0 4 9 5 10 28 Domestic incident 0 3 3 1 0 7 Juvenile complaint 2 1 1 1 0 5 Domestic abuse 0 2 3 4 1 10 Protective order service 0 1 0 0 0 1 Total Domestic 2 14 19 14 13 62 Traffic Traffic arrest, DUI 0 0 0 0 1 1 Traffic arrest, other 0 0 0 1 0 1 Traffic complaint, other 1 5 6 9 5 26 Traffic complaint, DUI 0 2 1 2 0 5 Total Traffic 1 7 7 12 6 33 Miscellaneous Lost or stolen property 0 4 9 8 1 22 Noise complaint 0 0 1 0 0 1 Warrant/summons service 1 5 14 11 5 36 Non-enumerated complaint 1 5 7 4 2 19 Sick or injured subject 1 8 9 4 8 30 Violation of peace order 0 0 0 1 0 1 Total Miscellaneous 3 22 40 26 16 109 Sexual Related All other sex offenses 0 0 1 0 0 1 Total Sexual Related 0 0 1 0 0 1 Theft Altered money/counterfeiting 0 3 5 5 2 15 Credit card misuse 1 9 6 4 2 22 Bad checks 0 0 0 2 0 2 Forgery 1 6 5 8 2 22 Theft, motor vehicle 0 4 4 6 4 18 Theft, other 7 41 41 41 14 144 Theft, from motor vehicle 0 7 5 9 6 27 Theft, purse snatching 0 0 1 0 0 1 Theft, shoplifting 14 207 303 156 62 742 Unauthorized use 0 0 1 1 5 7 Recovered motor vehicle 1 2 1 1 5 10 Identity theft 0 0 2 4 5 11 Theft, purse 0 0 1 1 0 2 Burglary, 2nd degree 1 0 0 0 0 1 Burglary, 4th degree 2 1 0 0 0 3 Total Theft 27 280 375 238 107 1,027 Violence Robbery, armed 0 0 1 1 0 2 Robbery, unarmed 0 0 1 1 0 2 2nd degree assault, not domestic abuse 0 13 15 13 7 48 1st degree assault, not domestic abuse 0 0 1 1 1 3 1st or 2nd degree assault, workplace 0 0 0 0 1 1 Total Violence 0 13 18 16 9 56 Total calls for service 48 441 532 390 205 1,616

Source: Baltimore County Police

*Data for 2011 only through Oct. 9