A short video featuring [Homeland Security Secretary Janet] Napolitano will appear on TV screens at select checkout lanes, asking Wal-Mart shoppers to contact local law enforcement to report suspicious activity.

Wal-Mart and DHS are rolling out a “spy on your neighbor” PSA system at 588 stores. Gives me the creeps. I wonder what “suspicious activity in the parking lot or the store” was deemed worthy of the Secretary’s attention? It strikes me as a way of getting shoppers and local law enforcements to do Wal-Mart’s loss prevention for them.

Additionally, this made me very, very sad:

“Wal-Mart is a place where people gather, it’s a place where you sometimes see your neighbor the most,” Fogleman said.