Topic: Loitering and Smoking Illegal Substances In Hallways

I'm constantly getting phone calls about people smoking weed and loitering in the hallways. I ask have the police been called but it always continues. We've sent letters but my guess is the people doing these things aren't going to stop because of a letter. I really want to improve the environment of my community. Is there any way to fix this problem?

Just a couple of quick questions. What time of day/night is this occurring? What is the response time of your local police to this type of complaint if they are called? Do you have No Trespassing and No Loitering Signs posted in all hallways and on the property in general?

Call the police, every time, as soon as it starts. Ask your residents to do the same. I don't think the problem will ever be completely eliminated, but with consistent enforcement, you can create an unpleasant environment for drug users and they will go elsewhere.

Always get the police. This could just be average tenants, or it could be the cartel that has invaded the USA. NEVER accost them on your own. Some of these people will think nothing about blowing you away.

I always made friends with the local police force. It is amazing the things that they can do for you and your tenants to curve some problems. That patrol car that cruises the area at different times. Maybe even get out and walk the area where the problems come up all the time. Sometimes it is good to have an off duty officer looking to pick up a couple extra bucks to come over at your request at different times can help as well.

I know of one tenant that actually put out a receptacle. This actually put the offenders at ease long enough for the police to arrive.

Hahahaha - love the smoking receptacle! My Section 8 property had those until someone kept setting it on fire. I found a lot of times the ones smoking pot are not residents, and a lot of times they are kids doing this before and after school. I would suggest installing cameras. I would also have Maintenance patrol early morning hours (if you have a tech living on site he should be made aware of the problem and his help enlisted). Until you get your Residents to call this in - and the police must be able to respond as though it were an emergency and not just another nuisance call, this problem will get out of control and you will lose good residents.

Cameras are a good idea, let's take it to the next step. Remote Access - you would be very surprised how supportive your Local Police would be if you gave them remote access to the cameras. (it's what I do}

From their cars they watch the activity {You just called about}before they arrive. The relationship between residents and law enforcement only gets stronger.

Police have told me residents will just break cameras. I haven't had to use them. I do have a fake one at the trash dumpster to deter non-residents. My residents know it's fake and think it's funny!

I would install better lighting. Put in new fixtures with the brightest light you can get. Good residents will like it, too.

Is this behavior occuring at the same time of day? If yes, get the police to do a daily check for awhile.

Also, send letters to the residents. It might be their kids or friends and they don't know they are doing it.

Offer a reward for any tip that leads to an arrest. This lets the perp know you are serious and that others may turn them in for money.

If they are smoking in the breezeway, there is a reason they are not smoking inside the apartment. Kids who don't want parents to know it!!!

We have a law in my state... "Birds of a Feather." If one is doing something illegal then anyone who is with them is considered guilty, too. I explained this to a couple of parents and they made their kids change their friends!!!

Of course as everyone else has said, you also need to call the police EVERY time and encourage your residents to do the same. Keep at it and eventually they will move on Have you gone down to speak with those who are loitering in person? I had a major issue with this in my last community. While it is illegal to smoke pot, our county doesn't have a law against loitering. So everytime the call came in I got in my car and drove to the problem location. Yes I sometimes had to do this 5-6 times a day, but eventually it worked. Another problem is that most communities have a playground, but no place for those over 12 to go. I gave mine a picnic table. It was a place they could hang out and not worry about getting into trouble. Why do developers keep building communities with only a playground and a pool for the kids?

Police said they would break the camera. Perhaps depending on the actual layout of the building and this particular zone. What is not brought to your attention is the potential liability with using FAKE Cameras in a Commercial Housing Project. You need to raise that question up the flag pole of your Corp Office |Insurance broker of the property. We are seeing an increase in suites based the idea - Video Security was perceived. False sense, thin line that each situation needs it's own evaluation.

Lighting is the most important criteria for any Security measures.

Going through the threads I think I am picking up that it is kids, and that it is happening after school hours. This could mean that they have working parents and some of the kids may not even live in the community.

So maybe it is boredom and they have no organized activities. So, maybe the local community can come up with something which will challenge these kids and keep them from being bored. I love chess and it has always been a success to set up groups to teach chess, hold tournaments, and even challenge other communities. Chess is just one idea, there are other things you may have a local business that would donate some of their computer folks teach kids how to work on computers, there are many things where you can come up with things which will keep the children out of mischief and you may even find some that will talk the hardcore folks out of bad deeds.

Maybe teaming with the school for some projects would appeal to the kids. The idea here is whatever it is to come up with some ideas to engage the kids as I think we have kids that are bored and when they are bored they do tend to get into trouble. Just an idea!

Your more right than you think Nate. The subject of "after School activities" has been an on going challenge for many school districts. Considering budget cuts many have none at all.

We have also seen the debate where putting this responsibility on the school(teachers)is a bit much. Your idea revolves around "volunteering". I wish I had a more consistent schedule. Totally respect the parents that do work around their schedule and professional responsibilities and take an active role.

The problem is even if it is the kids doing it, oftentimes the kids are not the Residents of the community. It is usually those of middle school and high school age, who are least resistant to involvement in after school clubs (although I recognize many do like them.) The other problem is when someone calls the Office to say they know people are in the hallways, by the time the police or Manager arrive, the people are gone. So, it is a great idea to inform all Residents of the community that this is a problem and you need their help. Installing working cameras (and they do make some pretty indestructible ones) and keeping common area hallways locked as a keyed access or fob system is expensive and not affordable for many communities. So, it has to become not just the property management company's issue, but also every Resident's issue and they can implement a Neighborhood Watch Group to walk the property during the hours of the reported activity. This really can deter delinquent behavior.

Agreed: the true key is the relationship between the Property firm | Residents and the need to share the responsibility. It is an on going challenge.

The residents I have found respond to a call to action when there is something that is compelling. I normally held what I called little town hall meetings. I would put out fliers later in the computer age I used them as well to put something out that would draw the tenants out. Something which if they were not there said that they did not care or did not have children for instance if it involved the children as it does in this case. My meetings were all known as, "A Call to Action"! In this case I would have a line, "If You Care About Your Children and Their Welfare". We are telling the parents if they do not show up they do not care, but we have not put it into words. Parents know each other and those that do not show up will get the information from their friends that do show up. Those that just skipped out are embarrassed into showing up next time and those that have to work will have a way of finding out as well, through your community information lines.

I found the best call to action when it is not one where it is directed and people are told what they will do, but to facilitate, present the problem and ask for some ideas from the community. The first couple of times maybe slow and may not give you the immediate progress but stick with it as there will be those who come to see if it is even worth it to come.

Just like in some communities they have neighborhood watch programs; it can be started locally as an example.

We have even been sneaky and had little private rewards for information leading to the arrest of people that have done damage to our properties and it has been successful. We did not go in and handle it, but turned it over to the legal folks as persons of interest.

Heck give an old WWII or Vietnam vet the challenge and they will go in there and square it away in a heartbeat! Hey, I was not serious, just making a little fun there!

Hey John,

Volunteers are not hard to get depending on the demographics of the community. You can even get outside sources in to do work that is worthwhile to the community and city as a whole!

Sometimes kids have a passion for something and they can actually volunteer to teach others in certain healthy areas. I would experiment with my kids when they were at home by hooking them up to electrodes and seeing where I got the best response! OK, just wanted to see if you were still reading ;) I would challenges my kids to come up with ideas and I would bounce ideas against them. There were many things that were successful and they came right from the people that we wanted to redirect that energy and talent.

But, the community has to feel like they are a community and that they can take care of their village. When you have people welcoming the new arrivals and telling them all what is going on in their community, you know you have a winner!

The biggest problem that leads to residents and non residents loitering is the fact that they have nothing to do. I have always advocated sponsoring boy/girl scout groups and allow them to have activities and meetings on site. Another venue is reading challenges (get with your local library or bookstore), sports teams (contact your city's rec department), and homework help (while school is in session, if you have a resident that is a substitute teacher for the local school district; hire that person for a few hours a week and offer a small discount on the rent in exchange).