“Without individuals feeling safe and having an environment of safety, they then have reluctance of taking part in the city, of being active. They wind up wanting to leave the city.”

How to Develop the Infrastructure of a Safe Apartment Community

BY BETSY ELAINE TYURINBusiness Development Coordinator

World Builders Inc.

As an Angelino for 5 years, struggling to make my way through school at USC as one of the only students in attendance that was not supported by a voluptuous pile of “mommy and daddy money,” I found myself living in apartments in some of the worst neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Living alone as the first white woman on the block in South Central in a one bedroom directly across from a liquor store, and often being responsible for tens of thousands of dollars worth of cinema school equipment meant my apartment was a prime target for attempted break ins and vigilance was an abso-lute necessity. Later, in the Koreatown neighborhood, where I lived for the latter two years of my stint in the City of Angels, shootings and race related crimes were a regular occurrence. Riding the bus from the corner of Olympic and Alvarado to work at the Century City mall often meant walking exposed through the hood after dark past hookers and bums, and, on one embarrassing occasion, getting mistaken for one. Moving to Dallas has made me realize the huge differ-ence between a community that was built to withstand a high crime location and one that was in a once nice neighborhood that has digressed with the economy. Properties that were developed in bad neighborhoods from the beginning often offer better safety features than com-plexes originally built in nice neighborhoods. Some of these features, such as gated parking under the building with remote control access, cannot easily be replicated on existing structures, and others that can be, such as installing bars on the windows, can be a poor fit for the culture of the tenants you already have. Revamping the safety factor of your multifamily prop-erty can be a daunting and expensive prospect when crime has moved into your neighborhood, but with the recent economic decline, communities everywhere are seeing increases in break-ins, muggings, robberies and trespassing.

- Dick Powell

There are things you can do to make your property safer for residents, and doing them is increas-ingly critical for marketing and retention purposes.

Good Lighting Is Critical. When a crime is easy to commit without the perpetrator getting seen or caught, it is more likely to occur. Make sure that you have good lighting installed in your parking lot, common areas, and walkways. Not only will this make your property more appealing in appearance to your current and future tenants, but it will make potential criminal acts more visible to anyone who happens to pass by these areas.

Remove Visual Obstructions. Muggers and rapists tend to try to lure or catch their victims in secluded areas where they can easily be trapped and prevented from escaping or calling for help. Narrow walkways and overgrown hedges or small confined areas like laundry rooms or pubic bathrooms make unsuspecting tenants easy targets. These opportunities can be mitigated by ensur-ing that overgrown shrubbery is cut back to a height of three feet or less, or removed. For small enclosed rooms, make sure there are two exits so that someone in the room cannot as easily be trapped by someone blocking the door. Consider installing windows in these areas so there is a sightline to an open area.

Get Social in Person and Online. Sure, you may keep a copy of a drivers license or a photo of your residents on file, but how often do you look at it? Positive interaction with your tenants builds good will and better communication and the knowledge of who belongs on your property and who doesn’t. Creating a closed Facebook group for your community can allow you to add your residents and re-strict the access of those who don’t belong, because you can use privacy settings that only allow people to find or join the group if they are invited by someone who is already a member. This is a great way to get your residents to know one another socially, and share infor-mation about things they see going on in your property that they might not otherwise be calling or emailing to report. You can also use a group to post documents

Restrict Access to Nonresidents. Guests of residents should always be accom-panied by the resident. Unsupervised visitors to your property are often the perpetrators of crime, and their presence can devalue the ammenity experience your residents pay for when your fitness center or pool are overcrowded. Nonresident visitors not accompanied by a resident are more likely to damage the property, leave litter in common areas, and create nuisances like run-ning your public bathrooms out of toilet paper without notifying your management to replace it. In some instances, I’ve even witnessed homeless people sleep-ing and bathing in fitness centers and common areas like swimming pools or dog parks. This can become a resident perception nightmare. According to the Dallas Police Department, the best thing a tenant or member of management can do when an unaccompanied nonresident is identified is to call 911. The police can ask the nonresident for ID and issue a trespassing warning. If the nonresident leaves the property before the police arrive, there is nothing they can do, so officers recommend not directly engag-ing with the trespasser. First time violations will get a warning, and second offenses can be arrested. It is up to both residents and management to ensure that the property is not overly inviting to unwanted guests. ☐