Jessica Simpson Mall Security

[Valor Eastbay]

their was a big celebrity that came to the mall i worked at few months back and just about 70% of the mall customers were trying to take photos/talk/shake his hand/etc with him. normally, we dont allow cameras and whatnot, but we let it slide because we had other things to worry about. if we were to enforce that rule, it would've turned out just like this. thank got it didnt

Why is everyone so quick to judge when we don't even know all the facts?.

I judged my two comments on exactly what I saw, and nothing less.

One guy, being taken down and cuffed. Everyone helped with the TD, but as soon as he was on the ground, everyone but the primary officer backed off. No handcuffs were on, and the officer only had control of one hand, yet all his partners backed way up. Good thing the other hand wasn't reaching for a knife.

[LPGuy]

You can only comment on what you see. What happen before and after the taping is anyones guess. Everyone that "watched" the video is speaking on what they "seen" not what they "assume".

We all can go back and forth for the rest of the year on this subject. You have to ask yourself, if you were a mall owner, security director and viewed this 3 minute clip, would you be happy with it?

I could comment on a 3-minute clip all day long, but that wouldn't make any of my comments accurate. I've learned a long time ago that videos such as these only show a fraction of the incident and may be very misleading.

If the cameramen were rolling tape the whole time, why does the video not start until the security officers are stating "Don't do that again," or "You're going to try that again?" or something to that effect? It appears as if the paparazzi had already initiated some kind of adverse action.

What I saw was the security officers apprehending some obviously disorderly paparazzi. I don't see any problems with how the security officers handled the situation, even if it may not be the most "PR-friendly" way.

[BadBoynMD]

Why is everyone so quick to judge when we don't even know all the facts?

If you noticed, the video started somewhere in the middle of this circus. I am willing to bet alot more footage exists that we haven't seen. The video starts with the mall security shouting out commands... do you think this was an accident?

Nathan is very correct... they are not their to protect Jessica Simpson. For all we know, they were focused on getting the cameras out of the mall since the vast majority of malls have policies against unauthorized camera use. In fact at 2:08 you can hear one of the officers say "This is private property, no cameras in here."

I agree that the whole thing could of been handled better, but I am willing to bet this was a last-minute thing. Anyways, now we can go back to making assumption after assumption and critiquing every second of this 3-minute video. All I know is Jessica Simpson wasn't hurt, nor even touched from what I could see... so it couldn't have been that terrible.

You can only comment on what you see. What happen before and after the taping is anyones guess. Everyone that "watched" the video is speaking on what they "seen" not what they "assume".

We all can go back and forth for the rest of the year on this subject. You have to ask yourself, if you were a mall owner, security director and viewed this 3 minute clip, would you be happy with it?

We all know how most security companies are. You get hired, shown your work site for a couple days and the rest is on you.

Like I said before, theres always that back hallway

[LPGuy]

Why is everyone so quick to judge when we don't even know all the facts?

If you noticed, the video started somewhere in the middle of this circus. I am willing to bet alot more footage exists that we haven't seen. The video starts with the mall security shouting out commands... do you think this was an accident?

Nathan is very correct... they are not their to protect Jessica Simpson. For all we know, they were focused on getting the cameras out of the mall since the vast majority of malls have policies against unauthorized camera use. In fact at 2:08 you can hear one of the officers say "This is private property, no cameras in here."

I agree that the whole thing could of been handled better, but I am willing to bet this was a last-minute thing. Anyways, now we can go back to making assumption after assumption and critiquing every second of this 3-minute video. All I know is Jessica Simpson wasn't hurt, nor even touched from what I could see... so it couldn't have been that terrible.

Thank you for summarizing exactly what I was about to write.

[davis002]

Why is everyone so quick to judge when we don't even know all the facts?

If you noticed, the video started somewhere in the middle of this circus. I am willing to bet alot more footage exists that we haven't seen. The video starts with the mall security shouting out commands... do you think this was an accident?

Nathan is very correct... they are not their to protect Jessica Simpson. For all we know, they were focused on getting the cameras out of the mall since the vast majority of malls have policies against unauthorized camera use. In fact at 2:08 you can hear one of the officers say "This is private property, no cameras in here."

I agree that the whole thing could of been handled better, but I am willing to bet this was a last-minute thing. Anyways, now we can go back to making assumption after assumption and critiquing every second of this 3-minute video. All I know is Jessica Simpson wasn't hurt, nor even touched from what I could see... so it couldn't have been that terrible.

[ValleyOne]

If Jessica Simpson wants personal protection, the going rate is posted on several websites. The Mall's security force is there to protect the mall's property and everyone in it, not play bodyguard to one person, celebrity status or not.

True, if Jessica wanted the personal protection she should've obtained it herself (if she did she needs to get her money back). But, I also agree the mall had no business taking on the Executive Protection role, as they obviously failed. One could argue that while paying attention to the one person they also failed at protecting the others on mall property.

But, I get the impression the point of discussion was the actions of the Mall Staff. As they had no business doing that type of security (lack experience, lack of proper staffing, etc, etc), I would think it is a generally accepted that they failed miserably.

Hopefully, they won't try it again...

[N. A. Corbier]

I haven't watched this video, honestly. However, there are a few things to ask...

1. What mall security person is trained in personal protection? Seriously. I have recieved no training in bodyguard or personal protection from my Class D "security officer" training in Florida. Any training I got in those areas was on my own, and not required for security in Florida.

2. The job of the security force in a mall is not to protect Jessica Simpson, President George W. Bush, or any one person. It is to protect the assets of the mall itself, the people (as a whole) inside the mall, and maintain law and good order within the mall itself.

If Jessica Simpson wants personal protection, the going rate is posted on several websites. The Mall's security force is there to protect the mall's property and everyone in it, not play bodyguard to one person, celebrity status or not.

[ValleyOne]

W O W

Where to start, well as others have said this an excellant example of what not to do. Why?

I feel the SO's were too focused on actually making arrests instead of protecting the celebrity guest. I feel all they had to do was keeping pushing the paparazzi away and keep moving. At about 30 seconds into the video the majority of the security staff disembarks their protectee and takes on few idiots. This left the protectee with one maybe two security officers.

Like I said, they got caught up in 'the lime light', if you will. They had a high profile celeb and reacted wrong. Again, for those that missed it in the second paragraph this is only my opinion. I would rather have my people just keep her moving at a reasonable pace, and keep the camera crews at a reasonable distance. Celebs like her are used to being paid that much attention, or they should be.

I actually feel sorry for her, she merely wanted to go shopping, and her personal security and the mall security failed her. Her personal guards, who actually seemed to leave her to own devices, so they could run back to the rear to get a few hits in on the downed paparazzi. I hope they feel like the big tough guys they were trying to be. Like I said, just keep the her, and the crowd, moving. If a cameraman gets pissy cuz he can't listen to commands to keep moving and gets straight armed onto his butt, too bad. Their should've been officers in the rear to make sure he didn't get up and try to sucker punch the rest of the officers. Funny that scene in Finding Nemo comes to mind; 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...' LOL. OK back to it.

The mall staff seemed to be severly thin in their ranks. They should've had more people on the job that day. If Ms. Simpson made arrangements in advanced then perhaps the mall could have coordinated the event more aptly with supplemental officers. But we may never know that.Then again, I would think she has not only the money, but the prestige, to make arrangements to just close the mall down during her stay. But who knows...

All in all, I guess it just comes down a fine example of what happens when you take your eyes on your objective. I feel their primary function that day was to escort her safely through the property, not so much arrest and detain persons for seemingly minor infractions of the propery rules/regulations. Granted it developed into several physical confrontations, however, I would argue that those confrontations could have been mitigated by merely maintaining a STRONG buffer zone around the protectee.

That was a shining example of teamwork, the way the other officers backed off the second arrest, before any cuffs were on.

And white-shirt-with-a-radio guy, who the heck was that? A janitor?

[BadBoynMD]

Sorry, I just see an amusing correlation in having Jessica Simpson and Trash Dumpsters mentioned in the same paragraph...

I didn't mean for it to sound that way, I really didnt.

[Chucky]

Sorry, I just see an amusing correlation in having Jessica Simpson and Trash Dumpsters mentioned in the same paragraph...

Mountain Boy U B funny. My thoughts exactly. I liked her a lot better as Homers daughter.

[locknid]

The second arrest looked justifiable seeing that during the first one the subject tried to pull off one of the security guards trying to make the first arrest, when security did try to grab the second subject to make the arrest it looked like he started to resist.

The first arrest I can't really tell because the camera guy didn't film the beginning of the situation, he continued following jessica simpson for a few moments while the first subject and security went out of view of the camera

i don't know their state laws or private person arrest/detain powers or use of force so I can not make any judgements on whether they were justified in arresting the first subject, and although the arrest of the second subject looked legit the fairy punching of that one security guy was probably a little much seeing how many security guards there were and the size of the subject.

[flashlightcop509]

6. If things got to the point where her safety was in jeopardy, they should have had a plan for emergency evac of Jessican Simpson. All mall stores have a rear exit that connects to a long hallway that leads out to usually the loading dock area where the trash dumpsters are also located.

Sorry, I just see an amusing correlation in having Jessica Simpson and Trash Dumpsters mentioned in the same paragraph...

[sgtnewby]

Usually, shopping malls are private property. I have worked mall security in the past and on two occassions, was told by mall management to escort news crews off of the property because they did not have permission to film or take pictures there. So maybe there are some legal issues with that.