You fumble with your keys as you walk through the shadowy parking garage. Images of ruthless carjackers, kidnappers and thieves run through your mind. Your eyes dart left and right as your brain jumps into “fight or flight” mode. You wish you had stuck one of those LED flashlights in your backpack – an emergency flashlight would sure help you feel safer! Once you reach your car, you furtively glance in the back seat or under the car to make sure no one is hiding there. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, all is well – you get into your car and drive away, letting out a sigh of relief as you leave the parking garage.
However, we all know this situation is rife with danger. Parking lots and garages are isolated, dark places where criminals know that their acts will likely go unnoticed. Indeed, one inmate on death row explained to security strategist J.R. Roberts that he targeted Wal-Mart parking lots, saying, “You just go there (Wal-Mart) and if you park, you can just watch people pull up. Like some people, they will put stuff in their trunk. And if you sit there and watch the people, you know which ones put stuff in their trunk or got stuff in their cars.” This criminal began his romance with Wal-Mart parking lots by stealing purses, returning packages he had stolen from trunks, and so forth. Eventually his crime record reached a crescendo when he kidnapped, raped and murdered a young mother, being so bold as to abduct her from a Wal-Mart parking lot in broad daylight. This criminal represents the two major crimes that are typically carried out in parking garages: car break-ins and assaults.
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