Walmart Police Department of Atlanta?

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki

There is reportedly a sudden increase in retail theft in America. And to combat this alleged increase, stores are taking measures to reduce their losses. 

So, Walmart has decided to open a mini-police station in their Atlanta store. They are building an area for police officers to meet up with each other, charge their equipment, finish writing reports, hang out, and generally just increase their presence in the store. The purpose is for the officers to serve as a deterrent to theft and other crimes.

And the mini police station is not being called a mini police station, it is being called an "office".

While Walmart is a privately owned company and they are free to run their stores as they wish, the problem arises with the funding of this mini police station aka office. 

Instead of Walmart using some of the $147.568 billion dollar profit they earned in 2022 for their fun little venture, they are proudly using money from the $1.5 million dollar "initiative" the city of Atlanta received to expand fresh grocery access in low-income communities. This is being done with the apparent blessing from the mayor of Atlanta. 

So, instead of making the neighborhoods of low-income, food insecure people better, they are using the money to expand police presence in the stores where these very people shop. 

Sources:

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/walmart-adds-in-store-police-station-to-curb-shoplifting-091923.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-building-mini-police-station-inside-atlanta-store-2023-9

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-profit