Shopping mall enhances security by installing panic buttons throughout car park

PETALING JAYA: A wireless panic button has been installed at the car park of a popular shopping mall as a measure to combat crime and protect car park users.

The panic button will alert security personnel and police within 10 seconds to initiate immediate response in the event something untoward happens.

Sunway Shopping Malls chief executive officer H.C. Chan said the feature was aimed at providing an extra layer of security to help safeguard customers in light of the recent snatch theft cases reported at shopping mall car parks.

“So far we have installed 200 of these panic buttons, called i-alert systems, throughout our car park which can be pressed during emergencies.

“This system is designed to alert security within 10 seconds and have them respond immediately,” said Chan, who is also Malaysian Association for Shopping and Highrise Complex Management (PPK) president.

Chan told a press conference at the Sunway Convention Centre yesterday that the mall also had 400 CCTVs monitoring its car park area in addition to frequent patrols from appointed auxiliary policemen.

“Some of them use mobile security units, which can be utilised to ferry customers to their cars within the car park area,” he said.

Chan had earlier attended a meeting between PPK members and the police at the venue.

Meanwhile, IGP Tan Sri Ismail Omar said there had only been six crime cases in shopping mall car parks in Selangor between January and June.

“We have taken steps to work with the shopping mall operators to address this issue.

“The statistics do not lie and we hope the people do not get the wrong impression that the cases are rampant,” he said.

Apart from the 50 crime hotspots identified in Selangor, Ismail said police would be identifying popular shopping malls as new areas for patrols to be increased.

Deputy IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar concurred that the crime rate in mall car parks had not shot up as perceived.

“For the whole of last year, a total of 177 crime cases were reported in shopping mall car parks nationwide which included eight snatch thefts, 10 robberies, 44 molests and 115 motorcycle thefts.

“This, compared to the 81 cases of four snatch thefts, six robberies, 17 molests and 54 motorcycle thefts recorded between January and June this year, does not indicate a significant spike in crime cases at mall car parks,” he said.

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