About a dozen store owners and clerks followed up on an opportunity to learn about store safety from Fall River Police Department officers at a retailer training held at Heritage State Park on February 16, 2012. The training session followed an invitation by Sergeant Andrew J. Crook to all Fall River retailers to attend a session where items have been deemed in violation of state law because they constitute drug paraphernalia would be described. These items include glass tubes which often encase a rose, pen or incense; Chore Boy steel wool; water pipes (bongs); glass smoking pipes; digital and handheld scales; glassine stamp bags; handheld marijuana grinders; and small compartment hides. The session also included information on how store owners and clerks can reduce their potential for hold-ups by taking certain measures such as uncovering store windows, providing a safe to store their cash and methods for more accurately identifying thieves. Click here for a five-minute video of the presentation. For more information, contact Tobacco Control Coordinator Marilyn Edge at 508-324-2423.
 

(Top row, left) Tobacco Control coordinator Marilyn Edge greets Fall River Police Detective Larry Ferreira at the Heritage State Park Visitors' Center. (Top row, center and right) Officer Kevin Bshara sets up the PowerPoint presentation before inviting store clerks to come and look over the various types of drug paraphernalia that have been found in local stores. (Middle row) Various types of crack pipes and drug paraphernalia such as Chore Boy steel wool, baking soda, and baggies is displayed along with TIPS signs giving information about how to anonymously pass crime-related information to the police. (Bottom row) Detective Ferreira talks with store clerks about ways they can reduce holdups at their facilities by doing things like keeping store windows uncovered with advertisements so they can be seen from outside the store.