The entryway to the Kum & Go is marked by a raised podium for cashiers, strategically placed in the center of the store. This vantage point allows employees to keep an eye on anyone entering and leaving the store.
Police call this setup at the 25 W. Burlington St. store “natural surveillance.”
It is one of the methods Jorey Bailey — the Iowa City police crime-prevention officer — is training businesses to use to become safer for both employees and customers. Bailey has been teaching owners and managers to take nontraditional crime-fighting steps through the national program Crime-Free Business since it was established in late 2009.
So far, four local businesses have implemented changes as a result of the program: Gasby’s, Southgate Property Management, the Lodge, and Kum & Go locations in Iowa City and Coralville.
The convenience stores have decreased the number of posters and advertisements in windows hindering visibility, ensured proper lighting outside the buildings, put up safety reminders for employees managing cash registers, and posted stickers reminding patrons they are not allowed behind the counter.
Employees have also been encouraged to keep small amounts of cash in their registers and to periodically transfer money from the register to the safe.
One of the founders, Corinne Peek-Asa — now a UI professor of occupational and environmental health — brought the Crime-Free Business program to the Iowa City area after developing it at the University of California-Los Angeles.
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Since it began, the program has spread to areas throughout nine different states including California, Nevada, Washington, and eventually Iowa, Peek-Asa said.
“Problems we have seen in other densely urban areas is that there are not good relationships between business owners and the police, but that has not been a barrier here,” Peek-Asa said. “There is a level of familiarity and respect, and it has been wonderful working with this community.”
Jody Braverman, the president of Southgate Property Management, said the real-estate company has become a check-only business, eliminating cash entirely to prevent theft. It has also taken Bailey’s safety suggestions seriously by changing the perimeter lighting outside of the main office and a few apartment buildings.
Bailey said he is happy with the program’s effect so far but wants to see more businesses join.
When a business expresses interest in the program — offered by the police free of charge — the first step is to walk through the establishment with management and address problems, such as dealing with intoxicated patrons after the bars close, Bailey said.
He said he focuses on the layout of a building to help with crime prevention.
Brett Bauer, the owner of Gasby’s, said he heard about the Crime-Free Business through Bailey and saw it as an opportunity to improve the safety of his employees and customers.
Bailey provides feedback based on specific crimes each business has dealt with. In the case of Gasby’s, which had a problem with robberies, he trained employees on how to properly react in that situation.
The businesses were provided with Crime-Free Business stickers to place in their windows, broadcasting to patrons that the business is working to make it a safer place.
“We want criminals to realize that, if they do try to victimize one of our stores, it is really not worth their time,” Bailey said.