Police Provide Recommendations for Stores to Implement Following Black Friday Death
Several news outlets here, here and here are reporting that the Nassau County police has issued a set of recommendations for stores to follow when they hold big sales to prevent incidents like last year's Black Friday death. The Nassau County police say they will provide support whenever it is needed but that the overall responsibility lies with the stores. The police said, "the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it."
The recommendations come after a temporary Walmart employee Jdimytai Damour was trampled and killed by a large crowd of 2,000 shoppers at a Walmart store early in the morning on Black Friday, December 1st.
Here's a list of some of the recommendations from the police report:
Setting up barricades and/or rope lines to manage crowds ahead of the sale
Handing out wristbands or numbered tickets to shoppers
Positioning store employees in the parking lot and giving them radios so they can share information.
Stores should have shoppers enter the stores in smaller groups
Retailers should provide shoppers with maps showing where to find the hottest sale items.
Patrons should be kept out once the store reaches maximum occupancy.
Phone police if crowds get unruly
Police also said stores should plan whom to call in a medical emergency but they should also have defibrillators on hand and train staffers in how to use them.
Those all sound like great ideas. We will see if any of them are implemented by Walmart and other retailers on Black Friday next year. We would also like to see retailers stop using the word "door busters" - no need to suggest shoppers break down the doors to get to the sales.
Several news outlets 
