Police Report: Stores Responsible for Crowd Control

New York City Rope lines, numbered tickets and walkie-talkies for store employees could help control frenzied bargain-hunters, police said in a report issued in conjunction with a Wal-Mart worker killed in a 2008 Black Friday stampede in Valley Stream, N.Y., the Associated Press reported.

The report said that while county police would respond if needed, "the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it."

The police report said stores should plan security for sales events months in advance, assign enough staffers to manage expected customer traffic and train workers before the event.

The report recommended setting up barricades or rope lines to manage crowds before the sale, handing out wristbands or numbered tickets to arriving customers, positioning store employees in the parking lot and providing them radios to share information.

Patrons should enter the stores in smaller groups, not all at once; retailers should have maps showing where to find the hottest sales items, and patrons should be kept out once the store reaches maximum occupancy, the report said.

Stores should call police if crowds become unruly and plan whom to call in a medical emergency, but they should also have defibrillators on hand and staffers trained to use them, the report said.