You most likely have already seen the above video of the man who crashed through the Sears entrance at Woodfield Mall on September 20, 2019. His car plowed into a clothing store after frightening shoppers and destroying a kiosk, causing an estimated $100,000 in damages. He also came dangerously close to injuring children riding on a train in the mall.
Our own Chuck Duda was quoted in a follow up article on September 26th in the Daily Herald entitled “How protected are suburban mall entrances?” The article discussed the lack of protective perimeter security bollards at mall entrances in the area.
Most mall entrances at Woodfield are protected but those doors leading to many major anchors are not. Hawthorne Mall’s and Gurnee Mills’ major anchors were cited as lacking perimeter security bollards. Some anchor tenants at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora have bollards while others do not, as is the case at Bloomingdale’s Stratford Square Mall.
Chuck was quoted as saying: “Bollards, in our world, are insurance….I get news stories every day from all over the world about someone driving through a business or building, either intentionally or not, and then they’re talking about installing these things in the aftermath.” Duda went on to estimate the cost to install bollards at the Sears entrance which would have been a third of the damages.
In an editorial on September 26th, the Daily Herald encouraged “Editorial: Municipalities must lead the way to protecting suburban malls”. It talked about strengthening “weak links” in protecting the public with the responsibility falling on municipalities to install bollards in existing locations as well as for new construction.
As you know from the many articles we have published, security bollards are installed to protect against vehicles crashing through storefronts and entrances. We have written many times about ram raids and crash and grabs as well as low speed incidents where drivers lose control of their vehicles. Crash rated bollards are available for high security applications and other bollards are used to protect against the latter.
As a footnote, on Sunday the driver was charged with a terrorist act. See “Palatine man charged with terrorism in Woodfield SUV rampage”.
Call ECI at 847.949.0134 for assistance in designing and installing perimeter protection such as perimeter security bollards or wedge barriers at your location.
Or click below for our direct contact information.
