McDonald's turns booths into mini police stations

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 28, 1997 by Rachel Zoll Associated Press

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- He's been seen hanging out with the Hamburglar and may even sneak a French fry or two, but don't let that fool you.

Ronald McDonald has joined community policing programs with mini police substations at some restaurants in at least five states.

The cops aren't looking for people cheating on their diets, rather, they provide a place for police to get some paperwork done while socializing with the locals. "The restaurant is like a neighborhood contact point. You can walk in and see officers and talk to them, and see that the officer is approachable," Pawtucket Police Cmdr. Bob Morris said. The first McStation opened in Texas in the early 1990s under a program managed by individual owners, not through McDonald's Corp. In Washington, D.C., 33 restaurants opened substations last year, while 13 opened in May in nearby Prince George's County in Maryland. Substations also have opened in Hartford, Conn., and Chicago. The booths are not always staffed. Officers drop in when time permits to fill out forms without leaving the beat and to chat with customers. The station at the Pawtucket restaurant, which opened in April, is simple, consisting of a phone and a stash of incident reports on pastel tables with salt and pepper shakers. Still, the police presence is as thick as a McDonald's milkshake. Blue-and-gold police shields are sandwiched between cheeseburger ads in the front window. Several smaller shields adorn the doors and a sign reading "Reserved for Pawtucket Police" hangs near the work station. "When I was growing up, we all knew the police," said Mary Navies, who owns three Maryland McDonald's that have substations. "Sometimes, our young customers don't understand that their police are also the coaches of the local soccer team. It's another way to foster that relationship." The enlightenment works both ways. "It's more than just a police officer passing through. They are going to be sitting there, initiating conversations. They're going to be able to better understand the community at large," said Karl Bickel, spokesman for the Community Policing Consortium, a Washington-based group that helps communities and police work together. The police have had a mixed reaction to the substation program. Some say it's taking community policing to an extreme. But Lt. Scott Dunklee, who oversees community policing for Maryland's Prince George's County, likes the idea. "It's nice to be able to get out of your cruiser and sit down somewhere and do paperwork," he said. "At the same time, (officers) can talk to customers and maybe, eventually, the police will be seen in a different light." Police officials say there are other benefits to the program. The police presence may act as a deterrent to would-be robbers and can provide a place for locals to quickly seek police assistance. Anthony Vitalo, a 26-year-old eating at the Pawtucket McDonald's, said he liked the concept of the substations, but wondered if it might backfire. "It can give some people security because it's a popular hangout," Vitalo said. But, he said, the police shields on the windows may create a bad impression. "It almost could give you a doubt, like, `Do I want to frequent this spot?' Maybe the officer is there because there's a high crime rate," he said. In some communities, residents will be seeing more and more of the substations. Police in Washington have already expanded the program to 7-Eleven stores -- where officers lean on a podium instead of a table. The department also plans to open work stations in Safeway grocery stores. "One of our primary objectives is to put the bulk of the force at the beat level and for everyone in the city to be on a first-name basis with at least one officer," said William Ponton, a police inspector in Washington. "The chief sees this as a tremendous tool to do that."