BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — With 32 million visitors each year, the Mall of America operates 363 days a year. The security team that patrols the 5.6 million-square-foot space usually responds to medical calls or cases of children separated from their parents.
However, on Dec. 23, 2022, a fatal shooting happened, and security has been at the forefront for many.
Will Bernjelm, as the Mall of America's vice president of security, leads the team that comingles with millions of visitors.
The team does work both visible and invisible. On the highly visible side, are bike patrols, wearing yellow shirts, usually out in parking lots.
"They're looking for people that might have intent to steal a vehicle, or break into a vehicle," Bernjelm said. "They also handle about 1,700 vehicle locates every year, which is people that can't find their cars."
Uniformed officers also patrol the inside of the mall, along with plainclothes officers.
"They respond to about 1,500 lost kids every single year, about 1,000 or so people that are creating a disturbance or disorderly guests," Bernjelm listed. "They respond to around 600 medicals every year."
The mall also has six K-9 units, with at least one team sweeping each event that takes place within its walls. On a day to day, the dogs sniff garbage cans, and bags, to make sure no prohibited substances have been brought in.
Talks of metal detectors have happened in the past, and the mall has said previously that they had tested them as additional security measures. However, Bernjelm said while metal detectors are great for event venues, they ended up not being the "right fit" for the mall.
"We operate 363 days a year," Bernjelm said. "When they are hosting an event they're open for a few hours for those metal detectors to operate them. We would need to operate them 16 hours a day."
Instead, Bernjelm said they invest in training and in more patrols, with 500 hours of required training for uniformed officers.
"Four weeks is a long time in here," Bernjelm said, in the basement where the training room is. "They get a lot of other training, they get verbal judo, de-escalation training, crisis intervention, other medical, CPR, AED —things like that. They're trained in Narcan."
The trainees also learn the Israeli martial art, Krav Maga.
The hub of the action is also within the mall, with a dispatch center that oversees everything from locking down the mall to sending a clean-up crew to a certain location.
Bernjelm wasn't able to confirm how big the entire team is. However, he did say it was comparable to the size of the Bloomington Police Department.
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