Shopping Centers Flash Mug Shots to Deter Crime

If you want to discourage shoplifters this holiday season, follow the lead of the Staten Island District Attorney and engage in some good old fashioned public humiliation.

At the Staten Island Mall, located in Staten Island, New York, the District Attorney partnered up with the mall owner and purchased an electronic billboard that shows mug shots of five individuals who have been arrested and convicted multiple times for shoplifting in the mall. The 15-second ads are shown every six minutes at 11 locations throughout the mall. The ads will run until the middle of January 2009.

The District Attorney says that he wants the billboards to serve as a reminder that they will go to great lengths to arrest and convict individuals who take what doesn’t belong to them. Since the beginning of the year, 185 individuals have been arrested for shoplifting in the Staten Island Mall.

Source: NY1.com