LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Chinatown businesses are banding together to boost safety for customers and the tourism corridor, all in light of a spring crime spike and the latest serial burglar targeting local businesses.
Colin Fukunaga of Fukuburger has been helping spearhead collaboration among local Chinatown and Asian-owned businesses, sharing deterrence tips, surveillance and crime incident information to keep fellow business owners alert.
“There’s no other choice, like, we have to make this happen,” Fukunaga said.
“Chinatown is the third most visited part of Las Vegas now. You’re a business owner. It’s your duty to your customers that you’re here to protect them too,” he said.
Dozens of business owners gathered with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police on Thursday for a meeting with Spring Valley Area Command leaders, all to address the measures taken to catch the burglar responsible for 29 break-ins.
Fukunaga has helped numerous Asian business owners report crimes, helping break down cultural barriers to communicate with local law enforcement.
“It’s really important to change that paradigm and make sure that we’re all coming together and share the information with each other, so we could stop what’s going on right now,” he said.
Business owners are on a “text thread” with one another to share real-time information across Chinatown. When there’s a concern or incident, businesses call the SMART Team of “Mike and Ike” directly, two officers dedicated to door-to-door patrols. Earlier this year, LVMPD boosted patrols and visibility in the Spring Mountain corridor to crack down on criminals and car break-ins targeting customers.
Businesses are also performing deterrents: leaving cash registers open and empty (visible through the windows), bolting down safes, putting fliers and posters of suspects on windows, installing signs to clear your vehicle of valuables, and installing numerous surveillance cameras.
“I have high definition cameras, about 10 of them in every corner and angle, and one of them at the door, just in case. They all have motion sensors,” said Rarann Mojica of FoneStar Repair, which fixes cell phones, tablets and laptops.
As soon as customers walk through the door, Mojica tells customers to go back to their cars and clear out any visible valuables.
“So they can always come back and feel safe,” Mojica said.
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