Report aims to boost store clerk safety

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Brighter lighting in parking lots. Clearer views of cash registers. Those are some of the changes recommended to make convenience stores safer for late-night workers and customers. They’re part of a best practices report issued by a group formed after the shooting of an Indianapolis store clerk.

• ONLINE EXTRA | Read the report

It means Perry Tole's plea for change is closer to reality. He's been pushing for change for convenience store workers since his sister-in-law, Marcy Birnell, was shot in the head while working at the Village Pantry at 86th Street and Ditch Road in October.

Nearly six months later, new best practices and recommendations are in place for the industry. Several of the changes, Tole said, have been recommended by workers all along.

Late Tuesday, the late night retail working group issued the report , which calls for nearly a dozen measures that would protect workers.

"It does outline all the measures that are available, all the steps that can and should be taken," Tole said.

Some of those measures include:

• Installing remote-access, high-resolution video surveillance.
• Installing barriers at the front counter and deli areas.
• Installing monitored remote panic buttons in certain stores.

"Safety is a big concern," said Scot Imus, with the Indiana Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association.

He was part of the working group to come up with a clear plan.

"It was very helpful, I think, for all of us. Certainly, the department got an industry perspective. Certainly, we got to hear some of their concerns," he said..

The biggest concern now will be with implementation. Tole said he has concerns that not all convenience stores will be on board with the changes.

"All of these measures are recommended on a voluntary basis. There's nothing that forces anyone to do it," he said.

But Imus said each location needs specific consideration, so across-the-board rules won’t work.

"Unfortunately, there's no easy solution that would make a convenience store, a pharmacy, a jewelry store safe. It's really got to be on a site-by-site basis, and what ever method that's most effective should be deployed," he said.