Getting Carded at Mayfair Mall

I give Mayfair Mall credit for instituting a "get tough" policy to combat its thug problem.

It's unfortunate that it's come to this, but it has.

The plan is to card people to keep unruly teen troublemakers from roaming the mall and terrorizing patrons, driving them away.

WAUWATOSA -- Mayfair Mall plans on taking a dramatic step to cut down on violence by requiring people to show a photo ID at the door.

The program will be implemented in April and will likely be enforced on Friday and Saturday nights.

TODAY'S TMJ4 has learned most people under 30 will be carded. Those over the "required" age will be given a wrist band and allowed inside the mall. Mayfair has not decided what the "required" age will be.

People who do not meet the "required" age will have to be with an adult, who is 21 or older.

...The rules also require anyone underage to stay with the adult the entire time. Mayfair plans on posting security guards at every entrance. Shoppers at Macy's or Boston Store will not have to show an ID to enter, but will need to show an ID once leaving the department store and entering the main mall.

No plan is perfect.

Some potential problems:

Fake IDs -- Just as with going to bars or buying alcohol from stores, I'm sure people will get around the age requirements with the help of fake IDs.

Enforcement -- A LOT of security guards will be needed to patrol the mall checking for wrist bands and making sure that underage patrons are sticking with an adult the "entire time."

What does sticking with an adult really mean? How close? Side by side? A few steps ahead or behind? Does that rule just apply in the mall itself and not in the individual stores with only mall entrances?

Wrist Bands -- It wouldn't be too difficult for a 21-year-old to get a number of wrist bands, each from a different entrance, leave the mall, give the bands to underage friends and return as a group.

Movie Theater -- In order to get to a movie, one has to enter the mall first. That means the new rules will impact the theater's business dramatically.

Forty other malls around the country have a similar policy, so it's not like this is experimental. Its effectiveness has been tested.

Mayfair can look to these places as models for implementing its own strategy.

For example, Mall of America in Minnesota has a parental escort policy.




It states that children 15 and younger must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 4 p.m.

"Anyone 21 years or younger should be prepared to show a driver's license, state identification card or passport during the Parental Escort hours."

That seems reasonable.

This doesn't:

"ONE ADULT CAN ESCORT UP TO TEN CHILDREN 15 YEARS OF AGE AND YOUNGER."

Ten kids per one adult? That's a lot of kids.

Mall of America's problems appear to be different from those facing Mayfair. Restrictions have been placed on younger teens and children. That's most likely an outgrowth of the amusement park within the mall. It seems to be more of a babysitting matter there.

Violence and gang activity doesn't seem to be the issue at Mall of America since people sixteen and older are free to gather. Mayfair's troubles involve older teens as well.

Time will tell if Mayfair's plans provide a solution to eliminate the violence at the mall. Whatever inadequacies the policy may have, it is necessary to take action. Better to do something, anything, sooner than later.

Since no measures will go into effect until April, that does mean that the thugs have another full month to infest Mayfair.