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Adding to the Lead

In response to a streak of crime starting in 2021, Destiny USA increased security and changed their visitor policy.

Adding to Bottom of 2020s Section

Between May and June 2023, Banana Republic and Sephora closed their stores in Destiny USA. In September of the same year, a representative of Newbury Comics revealed that the collectibles chain would open another location in Destiny USA in October. In the same month, Dry Goods USA, a national retailer that sells clothes for young women, opened on the second level of the mall.

Crime and Safety

Beginning in 2021, a series of crimes inside and outside the mall led to increases in security.

On January 23, 2021, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed in the back near the Destiny USA parking lot. Two weeks later, Destiny USA announced a change to its parental escort policy. Before the change, minors only had to be accompanied by an adult from 4 p.m. to closing on Fridays and Saturdays. After the change, minors had to be accompanied by an adult at all times, every day. Destiny USA also gave the Syracuse Police Department (SPD) more space on the fifth floor so officers could have a "more expansive, functional work area."

On December 20, 2021, an unnamed man was shot in the leg at the upper parking lot of Destiny USA. Two months later, a gun was fired in a bathroom during an attempted robbery. Following this incident, Destiny USA hired two to five officers to work as security each day. After Juli Boeheim, wife to former basketball coach Jim Boeheim, had her purse stolen at gunpoint by a 12-year-old, Destiny USA hired more SPD officers to patrol the mall and its parking lots. In addition, probation officers were hired to make sure that individuals on probation weren't at the mall. On February 24, 2023, a 14-year-old shot at "a group he was in a dispute with." Four months later, an argument inside the mall escalated into a shooting outside one of the entrances of the mall.

These two shootings contributed to the 706 times that Syracuse police were called to the mall from the beginning of 2023 to June 13, 2023. Police were called the most for larceny with 147 calls. Following larceny, 24 calls were for nonviolent abuse toward family and 20 calls were for burglary. The number of police calls since January to June 13 was "nearly 200 higher than the call numbers in 2020, 2021, and 2022." Sergeant Matthew Malinowski, lieutenant at the time, said that the increase in crime was a result of more people coming to the mall after COVID-19.

By August 9, 2023, Destiny USA installed Flock Safety cameras at every vehicular entrance. The cameras track license plates and alert the police if a wanted or stolen vehicle arrives at the mall.