Westfield West Covina Mall released the following statement in response to our report on vehicle theft and burglaries at Southern California shopping centers.

More than nine million shoppers visit Westfield West Covina each year. Absent the opportunity to verify your/CBS’ source material citing 91 car thefts and 111 burglaries in a 13-month period; it appears such events would translate into an “incident rate” of about one in 45,000.

We all wish the number could be zero, but also would argue that 202 alleged break-in/theft incidents is statistically less significant when placed into context of a location that accommodates parking for approximately nine million shoppers annually, and reflects more positively on crime prevention efforts and our neighborhood than the incident total alone suggests . Providing a welcoming, secure and comfortable environment for our customers is a top priority for Westfield every day. To that end, we constantly assess and re-evaluate our own security deployments, levels and methods to reflect current conditions and also continue to work closely with local law enforcement to keep our center safe.