How do you excuse letting a kidnapper leave custody?
When a man attempted to snatch a two-year-old girl from a Virginia Fashion Square mall while she walked with her parents, entering in a wrestling match with the father in the process, security officers came in to assist and managed to help foil the attempt.
Now, here’s the jaw dropping part – after gaining control of the attempted kidnapper and sending the upset parents on their way, Fashion Square mall security simply…let him go.
That’s right, no detainment for someone who literally attempted to pick up a kid and run with her. And, believe it or not, it gets worse. When the girl’s parents called local police to report further on the attempted abduction that evening, they were shocked to discover that nobody from the mall or its management company, Simon Property Group, had contacted police regarding the incident. No report, no heads up, nothing.
In response, Simon Property Group issued the following atrocious attempt at a crisis management statement:
“This incident is now a police matter and, of course, we are fully cooperating with their investigation,” said Simon spokesman Les Morris. “Every piece of information that we have in our possession as well as witness reports have been turned over to the police for their follow-up.”
This is wrong is so many ways. No expression of remorse, no compassion for the parents, no way for concerned parties to share or ask for more information and absolutely nothing describing how mall management intends to prevent such a foolish move from being repeated.
It’s no wonder that Fashion Square’s Facebook page was bombarded by angry stakeholders following the statement, Simon may as well have come out and said “hey we really don’t care, keep spending money at our malls and stop asking for answers.” Adding insult to injury, Simon began systematically deleting the posts from concerned stakeholders while plastering holiday advertising all over the page.
The security company whose staff was on duty during the incident, Allied Barton Security Services, released a much more comprehensive statement, published on the mall’s Facebook page shortly after Simon’s own:
A concerning situation recently occurred at the Charlottesville Fashion Square Mall and it is important for mall customers and community members to know that the mall and its security team are committed to their safety.
Allied Barton security officers patrolling the mall responded to an incident surrounding a family having an exchange with another patron, and escorted the patron from the property. Our security officers then followed up with the family and they were satisfied with our response and the action taken.
After learning that the family later reported the incident to the police as a possible attempted abduction, Allied Barton is reviewing what occurred and the conduct of our officers to ensure that our team is following proper procedures. We are also providing our full cooperation to the police.
We understand and share the concern that all parents have for their children. Our first priority is safety, especially as it applies to children. Allied Barton is dedicated to helping maintain safe and secure environments for all of our clients and their customers.
Now that is a much better crisis response message, though it would have been nice to find it on Allied Barton’s own website as well. Another question that it does raise, however, is one that faces many organizations in crisis situations. Allied Barton says that the parents were “satisfied” with their response and the action taken, but even if this is 100% true does that mean an end to its responsibility? If the attacker had left custody and successfully snatched another child, a major load of blame would have landed directly on the security company, regardless of how “satisfied” the original abductee’s parents had been.
Perhaps the lesson here is that it’s essential to your reputation, and often to the safety and well-being of others, that you fully address crisis situations, regardless of whether one party has let you off the hook or not. As it so often boils down to in crisis management, you have to do the right thing regardless of expense or temporary embarrassment. If you don’t, the damage can be, quite literally, fatal. To another human being AND your reputation.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/