Apartment Security Expert
Houston, Texas

Apartment complexes, condos, town homes, high rises, time share property.  They all have one thing in common: a target rich environment.  The premises liability exposure to tenants, visitors, or employees is staggering given the nature of the high concentration of people.  Property managers and owners truly hold their futures in their own hands when it comes to security.  The word "security" is one that would seem to be avoided at all costs because of management's concern about the implied meaning.  The truth is that security measures are already in place and acknowledging that appropriately goes a long way towards enhancing the conditions of a property and mitigating liability exposure.

Foreseeability of the specific crime is usually the primary hurdle but courts in Texas have precedent to guide them on these cases.  In Timberwalk v. Cain, ( Timberwalk Apartments, Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. 1998)) threshold standards were set for determining the legal issue of whether third-party criminal conduct is foreseeable so that an owner must anticipate and protect invitees against it. These standards were the proximity, recency, frequency, similarity, and publicity of criminal conduct.  While these standards seem clear, there are no guidelines that define what should be included within each one.

Proximity:  The first layer of discovery will be incidents occurring on the property itself.  This can be determined through the dispatch logs of the local police.  Calls for service, however, do not always clearly reflect the crime committed and may require obtaining actual offense reports.  The property may also keep internal reports or a log of reported crimes.

The second layer includes the "area" surrounding the property.  Is that within the block, a square mile, or can the adjacent highway corridor be defined as within the proximity?  Property managers may feel that they should only be aware of crime on their own property but, that is not correct.  A series of rapes that occurred a mile away could be sufficient to give notice of a threat to their own residents.  The local police department would have to provide data for a self-defined area.  Some cities have excellent on-line resources and interactive maps to help in that investigation.

Recency:  What length of time has passed between prior incidents (on or off property) and the crime committed?  Is it one year or ten?

Frequency:  How often are crimes the crimes committed?  The courts have not limited this facet.  If a particular crime had only happened one time before, again on or off property, that information will be used in an effort to satisfy the requirement.  Some experts may argue that comparisons should only be made on like properties because crime data may be skewed by nearby businesses, malls or offices.  Thus far, I have seen no indication of this trend holding true.

Similarity:  Much is made of this important component.  Apartment complexes are inherently prone to property crimes such as auto theft, car break-ins, burglaries and thefts.  The question arises if property crimes are a predictor of violent crimes against a person or if a person confronted while in the process of committing a property crime would become violent.  Accordingly, aggravated assaults can be the results of domestic violence and unless the police department has some special coding to specify that it may be a difficult task to sort out criminal acts perpetrated by unknown third parties.

Publicity of Criminal Conduct:  "Publicity" can be easily thought of as some sort of media coverage but can also "internal" publicity within the property.  It is more likely that property management has been made aware of crime than the local media.  Certain crimes may even be reported to a property's corporate office or risk management department.  The internal reporting functions seem, at times, ad hoc and document retention may be spotty.

How to Reduce Crime and the Liability Exposure
in Multi Unit Housing.

As a resource for managers, the Texas Apartment Association Education Foundation has published an excellent Crime Awareness Guide.  This robust document is a clear "how-to" guide for all property management and staff on understanding and managing the criminal safety issues they face.

The City of Houston has taken a unique approach to crime reduction in apartment properties through their Blue Star Program.  This program is mandated by city ordinance (City of Houston Ordinance 2006-1124) that all properties with more than 10 units register with the city.  All apartment properties are researched for crime occurrance and the highest crime properties must undergo a security assessment and the property manager attend training on crime prevention.  After the manager attends a day of training, Houston Police Officers conduct security reviews using the standards and practices contained within Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).  The recommendations developed from the review, however, are not required to be enacted.  This program is based on an ever growing nationwide adoption of a Crimefree Multi Unit Housing Program that was originally created in Mesa, Arizona.

To read about the use of Courtesy Officers for apartment security click here.