Wal-Mart to Hire Off-Duty Officers for Roseville Store

When the Twin Lakes Wal-Mart store opens, it will hire—on a voluntary basis—an off-duty police officer for three 8-hour days a week to help reduce the Roseville Police Department’s shoplifting calls for service.

The Roseville Council earlier this week approved a security agreement with Wal-Mart by a vote of 4-1. The Council recently approved a final plat for the discount retail store.

“This would be only the second Wal-Mart in the state with an off-duty officer, albeit part-time, working in the store,” Roseville Police Chief Rick Mathwig said.

Wal-Mart’s commitment to hire an off-duty officer comes on top of the requirement that the store reimburse the city for law enforcement costs related to any calls for service in excess of 300 during the first year of the store’s operation.

Roseville’s SuperTarget receives about 175 calls for service per year, and  Mathwig has said he expects his department would receive 700 to 900 more calls for service a year if the Twin Lakes Wal-Mart is built.

Wal-Mart is not under any binding agreement to keep an off-duty officer on staff and, should the City Council approve the funds to hire a commercial police officer in 2014, it is expected that the off-duty officer position in the Twin Lakes Wal-Mart would be eliminated.

Tammy McGehee cast the only dissenting vote on the Council.

“It seems like it’s a lovely agreement for Wal-Mart but a very poor agreement for the residents,” she said, noting that the Midway Wal-Mart on University Avenue pays an off-duty officer to work from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Mathwig responded that an inner city store has more crime than even “a first-ring suburb such as Roseville.”

For prior Patch coverage, see these stories:

Proposed Wal-Mart Gets Final Approval

Roseville Residents Pack Forum on Proposed Wal-Mart Store

Roseville Poll: Do You Favor a Wal-Mart Store Coming To Roseville?

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