Gromack Seeks State Funding for More Police Personnel at Large Malls

Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack believes more police are needed to protect large shopping malls such as the Palisades Center and the Shops at Nanuet, both of which are in Clarkstown.

The proposal he will discuss at a press conference March 4 calls for state funding to provide more police personnel to malls over 750,000 square feet.

A recent terrorist threat to shopping malls surfaced in the form of a video specifically urging attacks on the Mall of America in Minnesota, West Edmonton Mall in Canada, and two shopping centers in the London area, all owned by Australian-based Westfield, according to The Independent.

However, the masked man in the video, purportedly from Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based extremist group that is linked to Al-Qaeda, encourages other attacks.

“Can you imagine what a dedicated mujahedeen in the West could do to the American and Jewish-owned shopping centres across the world?” he says.

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Together the two large malls in Clarkstown consist of over 2.6 million square feet and draw over 34 million visitors a year, Gromack’s office said. The Palisades Center Mall is the second largest shopping mall in the New York metropolitan area and the eighth largest in the United States.

Gromack will be joined by Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan and representatives of the Palisades Center Mall and the Shops at Nanuet at the event, which is scheduled for noon March 4 at the Palisades Plaza, 103 Route 303, West Nyack.