Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley called the situation "embarrassing" and pointed the finger at Walmart.
"I think it's disgusting and it sure sheds a poor light on Walmart and I'm pretty disappointed in them," he told FOX59 over the phone.
Buckley said the store is a public nuisance that's draining the city's resources.
"I go over there a lot, plenty of times there's been cops with people standing there in handcuffs, bags full of stuff," said Jacqueline Abbott.
Abbott said seeing police at the Beech Grove Walmart is a given. In fact, a FOX59 crew spotted some around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
But Abbott's eyes are opened for another reason. She lives next door to the store.
"It does worry me that somebody might jump the wall after doing something, and my house is right here," she said.
"I make no bones about it. I consider Walmart a public nuisance. And that's based on the number of times that we go down there every day. We're down there at least four to six times every single day on petty theft matters the police have to deal with," Buckley said.
City officials recently passed a nuisance ordinance, which police said would apply to the excessive police activity at Walmart.
Tuesday afternoon, Beech Grove police figures detailing their activity at the store:
789 police runs from February of 2014 to December of 2014
486 runs from January of 2015 to now
472 arrests from February of 2014 to now
"Most of the people committing the crimes at Walmart are not Beech Grove residents. They're from outside, and they're coming in. And we're having to clean it up and to deal with it," said Deputy Chief Michael Maurice with the Beech Grove Police Department.
Maurice said Walmart runs typically require two officers, and sometimes that leaves the department short-staffed to cover other duties.
"It's very taxing on our police department," he said.
Abbott doesn't want to trouble showing up at her home.
"There has been cops through there a few times, and when we asked what the problem was, they told us they were looking for someone who was stealing," she said.
http://fox59.com/2015/06/09/woman-involved-in-beech-grove-walmart-fight-says-confrontation-started-over-racist-remark/
at least the criminal element is located in one locale... makes the police job easier... the criminals could be spread all over town, but the converge on walmart