How a PIZZA Place Looks to Help Fight Crime

April 11, 2018
An effort to reduce danger for their pizza delivery, the Domino's in New Bedford, Ma., has integrated a safety and security hotline to provide additional driver safety.

If you're like me, a pizza delivery car stops by your house on the regular. It got to one point not too long ago I began believing the local place started recognizing my name so I could just say "Hey, me again" to order our usual pie.  

Pizza delivery drivers get robbed. It's rare but does happen, as would be the case with most anyone guaranteeing they would be walking around with a bit of cash in their pocket. While most major delivery brands are vocal about how much change their driver's carry, there are other items of value aside from cash.

And law enforcement has gotten creative in fighting that specific demographic of crime.

Case in point, Texas, 2011.  The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office posted undercover officers for pizza delivery in a move to "nab" a robber who had been holding up drivers for their phones, cash, as well as the food. ("Undercover Texas Cops Pose as Pizza Deliverymen to Nab Robber", Officer.com/10443873) Likewise, a year later, the then police chief of St. Louis County, Mo., had assigned undercover officers delivering pizza "to deter armed robberies." ("Undercover Missouri Officers to Deliver Pizzas", Officer.com/10827302). The effort was in response to the killing of two delivery drivers.  

Today, one Domino's franchise has stepped up to the game by offering a way that just might help law enforcement in a future investigation. They've integrated a hotline for customers to call and report "safety and security issues." According to the announcement this could range from simple complaints to "information on a potential robbery or crime targeting a team member." Calls are directed to an answering machine for the franchise, an email is created and caller ID information is captured.

The system, called Total Connect Now, was developed by Unified Office Inc., a provider of SDN-based hybrid cloud managed voice-over-IP and Unified Communications services to businesses.  

As quoted in today's announcement, “This Unified Office system allows us to handle safety and security situations in real time, no matter where we are,” said Nelson Hockert-Lotz, Chief Excellence Officer, Domino's Team New Bedford.  “Recently, we had a hot bag full of pizzas stolen from a delivery driver.  When someone linked to the suspect called the Safety and Security hotline to return the hot bog for a free pizza, we were able to provide local police with the voice recording and caller ID information within the hour. Our immediate response enhances our relationship with local police, improves their response, and allows us to dissuade others from copycat robberies."

It seems this is a unique program for the New Bedford, Mass., location. If successful, my bet is other franchises will follow suit with solutions of their own. I can understand the intent. The objective is admirable to offer a solution for people to call and report crime against delivery drivers. My guess is that capturing the call and caller information automatically would be beneficial for an investigation.  

However, I've been reassured that the intent of this is not to replace a call to 911.  

Law enforcement has done alternative efforts aside from posting undercover officers on delivery routes. The website Pizza.com published a piece for franchise owners where they talk about how the Dayton (Ohio) Police Department worked with a local franchise with a bit of training. The brand of store was not mentioned. The article states: 

"The Dayton Police held a training session for 60 local pizza delivery drivers where they were briefed on the situation in Dayton and given a list of all the houses that are currently vacant in the city. The police also furnished lists of suspicious phone numbers that have been previously associated with robberies in the city, and strategies of action to utilize when a delivery situation just doesn't seem to feel right." (Preventing Pizza Robberies, Pizza.com) 

Sounds proactive to me. 

Is this type of crime happening in your area? Maybe this New Bedford pizza place has a half-decent idea. It's a proactive effort in making sure everyone related to the store can be notified of happenings. Perhaps the intent can be replicated in other areas and in other industries. Aside from delivery drivers of any type, I know for a fact that linemen get held up all too frequently. I'd imagine most non-public safety public service workers have this danger in the back of their minds. Putting a system in place to aid in notification might even help keep more employees safer - maybe even change their tactics when responding to calls. 

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

About the Author

Jonathan Kozlowski

Jonathan Kozlowski was with Officer.com, Law Enforcement Technology, and Law Enforcement Product News from August 2006 to 2020.

As former Managing Editor for Officer Media Group, he brought a dedicated focus to the production of the print publications and management of the Officer.com online product and company directory. You can connect with Jonathan through LinkedIn.

Jonathan participated as a judge for the 2019 and 2020 FOLIO: Eddie & Ozzie Awards. In 2012, he received an APEX Award of Excellence in the Technology & Science Writing category for his article on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in police work, aptly titled "No Runway Needed".

He typically does not speak in the third person.

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