How safe is the Lansing Mall? High-profile crimes intensify debate over security

DELTA TWP. — When his store was robbed by a man in March, Alfonso Salas did exactly what he tells his employees at Lansing Athletics not to do.

Salas, 70, chased the man and tried to stop the theft. But the thief, who Salas said fled with about $2,500 worth of unpaid-for-merchandise from his store in the Lansing Mall, punched him in the side of the head.

Salas was left lying on the sidewalk outside the mall.

“Now I’m going to kill you,” he heard the man say moments before the thief ran off.

“We have policies in our store,” Salas said. “Nobody stops nobody from going out with our stuff. We let them go. I tried to stop this individual. I broke my own policy. I tell my employees not to do that and I did the opposite.”

More than an example of what to avoid, Salas says the incident is an illustration of how crime at the Lansing Mall has increased in the last few years. Salas' first-person account — and stories of incidents told by others — about increasing crime and the need for better security, is disputed by law enforcement officials who say crime hasn't increased at the property in the last year.

Police and township officials said security at the retail center is the responsibility of the Lansing Mall.

Calls to Eaton County Central Dispatch over the last 3½ years show there have been fewer reports of retail frauds, larcenies and assaults at the mall in the last year than in 2021, but Salas and others said they feel less safe and they're seeking an increased police presence.

They point to a smash-and-grab robbery in January, the incident at Lansing Athletics and several smaller thefts from mall stores over the last year as proof of growing issues. And in April, more than 40 business owners and employees who work at the mall submitted a petition to the Delta Township Board of Trustees asking that police start making regular patrols inside the building. Some said their safety is at stake.

Salas' assault in March is “something that I don't wish for anybody and we don't want anybody to be in that same predicament because maybe next time, somebody might not be too lucky,” Salas said. “We want the mall to be again protected by law enforcement officers and that’s all we’re asking for. It’s what we need.”

They believe the solution is reestablishing a long-expired contract between mall management and the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office for regular police walk-throughs. The mall’s security staff can’t offer the same level of protection, they said.

Township officials, however, said it falls to the mall’s owner, Great Neck, New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group, and its management to provide security in the mall.

Lansing Mall General Manager Kasa Finch in mid-May didn’t indicate any plans to resume the contract with police.

“We understand the importance of visible security personnel, which is why we employ full-time employees who wear bright visible clothing to help identify they are with the mall,” she said in an email. “They are also on duty 24/7.”

She did not answer specific questions about the mall’s security measures.

Kohan Retail founder and CEO Mike Kohan didn't return multiple messages regarding the property.

Crime at the mall has increased, many say

Emily Ramirez said she’s witnessed thefts at both stores she works at inside the mall, Claire’s and Rainbow Shops. People who steal from stores don’t have to worry about the facility’s security staff stopping them, she said, and they know it.

“I had a customer walk out with an arm full of clothing,” she said about a Sunday shift in April at Rainbow. “They just walked right out of the store. Essentially, customers know that security isn't going to do anything and so therefore they tend to get violent. I've had people try to hit me. I've had people ruin displays. I've had people throw stuff at me.”

The mall’s security staff is slow to respond when they are alerted to issues, Ramirez said, and often don’t do much beyond escorting people out of the store.

Finch, the mall's general manager, did not respond to questions about how security personnel handle complaints.

Crime has “absolutely gotten worse” at the mall in the two years that Cameron Garrett has worked at Kay Jewelers, he said. Last spring he noticed people were “scouting the mall,” noting the security staff’s patterns and figuring out the best times to steal.

In January, Kay Jewelers was a target in what police believe was a string of “smash-and-grab” robberies at jewelry stores in Michigan and Ohio.

“They knew exactly where they were going,” Garrett said, and had likely already noted there wasn’t a police presence at the mall. He believes having deputies inside and outside the mall would deter crime.

Eaton County Sheriff's Office officials said at the time a flash mob may have been behind the incident, adding that "an organized group of multiple subjects entered the mall, caused damage to businesses and stole/attempted to steal multiple items."

Six suspects were arrested in connection with the crimes and Garrett said the two masked individuals who tried to smash jewelry cases with hammers in Kay Jewelers didn’t get away with any merchandise.

Chelsea Foster, a manager at FYE, a store in the mall that sells music, clothing and gifts, said crime and fights at the property increased after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Last week, we had a gentleman walk in, pretty much just put on a hoodie and just walk right out of the store with that and a jersey,” she said. Employees know not to follow him, Foster said, but calling security or police can be time-consuming.

Foster believes the mall’s security staff should be patrolling the halls more frequently, though she did say there seems to be more working in recent weeks. Thefts can be scary, she said, and when the “smash-and-grab” robbery happened in January she dropped FYE’s gates to keep staff and customers safe.

“I'm glad that they got caught eventually, but it was very scary in the moment, and you never know what's going to happen,” Foster said.

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Police: No 'significant' increase in calls

A report the sheriff's office provided to township officials shows that between January 2023 and the end of March 2024 there were approximately 150 calls to 911 regarding the Lansing Mall.

Two were for reported assaults, three were for threats and three for possible fights. Four involved a report of retail fraud, just more than half a dozen were for disorderly conduct, and another half dozen were for larcenies. The majority of the calls were identified as “miscellaneous” or for “suspicious” people or activity.

Those numbers are lower than the figures recorded in 911 logs from Eaton County Central Dispatch for 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, logs show there were calls to 911 for nearly a dozen retail frauds, a dozen larcenies or robberies and eight assaults. In 2022, there were calls for five retail frauds, half a dozen for larcenies or robberies and eight assaults.

“To my knowledge there has not been a significant increase in calls for service to the mall in comparison to last year,” Eaton County Sheriff's Office Lt. Preston Dahlgren told the State Journal in an email.

But Dahlgren, who leads the county's Delta Patrol division of the sheriff's office, did acknowledge “a couple significant crimes within the last year at the mall, one of which resulted in the assault of a business owner during an attempt retail fraud. The other being an after-hours high dollar theft from a jeweler business.”

Dahlgren said while there have been calls to 911 regarding issues at Zap Zone XL, which moved into the former Younker’s storefront late in 2023, increased patrols through the business’s parking lot have resolved those issues.

“We have worked with ownership and their private security to help promote a safe, family-oriented environment,” he said.

Records show regular police walk-throughs of the Lansing Mall haven’t occurred since 2015, said Logan Bailey, communications director for Eaton County. That’s when a contract between mall ownership and the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office expired. The mall paid for overtime police incurred for patrols inside the building, he said. The cost varied by officers' salaries and time spent at the property, Bailey said.

It's unclear how much the sheriff's office was paid for walk-throughs of the mall in 2015. The county only keeps records for seven years, Bailey said.

The township contracts with the Eaton County Sheriff's Office to provide public safety through the Delta Patrol. The municipality budgeted a little more than $4.2 million last year for police protection and public safety, according to records. Data on the township's website show that, in total, Delta Patrol addressed 17,000 "events" in the municipality in 2023.

The petition mall business owners and employees submitted to township officials in April asks that the police presence inside the mall resume. Dahlgren said the department is open to it, if a new contract with the mall is agreed upon.

“We’re more than willing to contract with the mall,” he told the township’s Board of Trustees at its April 1 meeting. “However, we don’t have the resources to just have somebody patrol the mall.”

“Township staff relayed the concerns expressed by the business owners to mall management and sent them a copy of the petition that was received,” Community and Economic Development Director Peter Menser said.

Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher told Salas at a meeting in April that he should look to mall management to address security concerns.

“That’s where you should start is with mall management,” he said.

Mall management, other business operators say the property is safe

In-house security staff have been at the mall since Kohan Investment Group bought the Lansing Mall in 2021, Finch said in an email. The facility also utilizes closed-circuit television cameras to monitor activity at the property, she said.

“The Lansing Mall works closely with the township police department to monitor all suspicious activity,” she said. “It's unfortunate the mall has been the victim of a state-wide criminal ring which has involved two incidents in the past six months. We have been working directly with the police to help identify the individuals involved but believe these two incidents to be extraordinary in their circumstances. We have every confidence patrons and tenants should feel safe visiting the Lansing Mall.”

Finch did not answer questions about how many security staff work at the mall.

Malls across the country have been declining since 1980, according to retail experts, and many malls, including the Lansing Mall and Meridian Mall 12 miles away in Meridian Township, have embraced adding entertainment-driven tenants like Zap Zone XL and High Caliber Karting and Entertainment to increase foot traffic.

Some business owners and employees at the mall said they feel safe at the retail center, although they acknowledge crime seems to be on the upswing throughout Lansing, said Angelita Cabrera, who owns and operates Hela’s Kitchen in the mall’s food court.

“Everywhere has issues,” she said. “It’s just not one specific place.”

“I don't see any issue with the Lansing Mall that is out of the ordinary,” said Mike Hafez, Zap Zone's co-founder.

Salas, though, insists the mall needs an increased police presence.

“How much longer do we have to put up with this?” he asked township officials in April.

Ramirez said there are many days when she doesn’t feel safe working inside the mall.

“I go into work worrying, is something going to happen to me today?” she said.

Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: How safe is the Lansing Mall? High-profile crimes intensify debate over security