Oakland Pot Dispensaries Complain About Security

[Alpha8472]

Oakland Pot dispensaries are upset with the police department for not providing enough security. They are saying why should they have to pay for their own security when the police should provide them with protection. There have been some gun battles in front of local pot dispensaries. The pot dispensaries are wondering why the police are not there to keep them safe. Pot dispensaries are legal in California, but seem to be magnets for gun battles, robberies, and other crimes.

I saw one pot dispensary right next to the freeway in Oakland, and the glass windows have plywood over them. The lighted LED sign on the side of the building flashes advertising 24 hours a day saying to get your pot at this store. I do not know why they would set up shop right next to a freeway knowing that that people could just rob them and flee onto the nearby freeway.

[mjhale]

I understand a small, mom and pop store relying on the local police department to provide security response for them when something happens. A small store may not be able to hire a security guard full time or even at times that they need them. Seems to me that the pistol under the counter plays the security role too for this sort of business.

But these pot dispensaries knew they were getting into what could be potentially a dangerous business. Part of their business plan should be on site full time security. Sounds like these dispensaries want to rely on the police to save money and then complain when they don't get what they want. As a citizen, I'm not interested in subsidizing the security operation of one type of business using the police when the police have their hands full with regular policing duties.

[rwsandiego]

I agree - the police are not a security service. They are there to catch criminals and patrol the streets to observe what is going on. In large cities, like Oakland, the police have plenty to keep them busy.

[TW-Upstate NY]

Simple solution for these kind of operations would be to hire off duty or retired police officers if they want the kind of expertise the police provide. Yes it involves spending money on their part they obviously don't want to spend but they need to look at it as just another cost of doing business.

[storewanderer]

I think this is relevant to this forum since it is a retail product being sold at these dispensaries. These dispensaries were very profitable when they first opened due to the novelty of the product and that there were few of them. As more and more dispensaries open, the pie gets sliced thinner and thinner. This is a business with relatively high overhead costs for a number of reasons. While there are still many very profitable dispensaries out there, the profits are not what they were when these opened, or in many cases not the profits that the investors backing these were expecting (based on how wildly profitable these dispensaries were when they first opened).

With all of that said, they need to secure their business and pay the costs to do so. If they cannot secure their business, they need to close the business. Like many things there is a shortage of security guards.

In my area some of the dispensaries have full time security on site and some do not. All have full coverage of cameras inside and out. That is easy enough- these are very small facilities. Some in rougher parts of town operate similar to a bank where they have a foyer and the doors are locked. Upon entry you can get through the first door then your mask comes off so they can get a clear image of your face, then they let you in. That foyer can also be a holding zone if someone tries to rob the place. They typically have glass between the customer and the employee also.

This has been a constant criticism of certain large retailers for years- where a certain big box discount store generates dozens or hundreds of police calls in a week and people are saying that retailer needs to step it up and quit relying on the police to be its security service. I would challenge this as the average customer count per day for said large retailer can easily be 5k to 10k customers per day. When you have that many customers in a day, various crimes will take place that require involvement of police including shoplifting, assault, vehicle break ins, trespassing, property vandalism, etc. In a dispensary, even a busy one, the average customer count is not even far into the hundreds per day. It should not generate many police calls for crimes taking place on site.