Convenience store crime fighters?

A big part of why my husband and I have opted to stay here in Japan is that we don't want to return to the US (his home country) because it seems comparatively unsafe there. I'm often aghast when I read news articles from there, particularly with respect to things like school shootings—especially when they put forth the idea that classroom teachers should be armed to take on any would-be gunmen (or women).

Not quite as dire as that—but still what I'd call an overlap of responsibility—is convenience stores recently having to fill the role of dwindling koban with certain issues. The article mentioned that the issues that konbini staff have to deal with include matters surrounding abuse, stalking, and abduction, which seem pretty significant even for police to deal with. 

From ensuring nikuman and oden are ready to go, through to ascertaining cases of stalking or abuse...it's quite the broad range of responsibilities (and unfairly so, IMO)

In part, I can understand why convenience stores end up getting this role almost by default. They're open 24/7, and if I needed to find a safe place if I was being stalked late at night, for instance, I'd make a beeline for one of their stores—they're well lit, staffed, and I could ask someone for help if I needed to. But I also understand that expecting a konbini to perform the same functionality as a police box is really putting way too much pressure on staff that don't have formal training in this kind of thing.

What do you think about convenience store staff having to often take on this unintended role of "crime fighters"? Should koban boxes be increasing rather than decreasing?