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Complexes can attract criminal activity
  
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By STEFANIE THOMAS
Most area law enforcement officials agree: many apartment communities are susceptible to crime. Some more so than others, to be sure, but there are just some characteristics about multiple housing units, authorities say, that seem to draw the criminal element.
“According to the National Crime Prevention Council, apartments are 85 percent more likely to be victimized by burglars than other types of housing,” said Humble Police Department Officer David Meyers at last month’s monthly CARE (Caring About Residents Everywhere) luncheon, a casual forum where apartment managers from 13 Humble apartment communities meet to exchange ideas and discuss crime and crime prevention at their properties.
Lt. Carlton Brown of the Houston Police Department Kingwood Division said that although apartment complexes in Kingwood currently experience little, if any, major problems with out-of-control crime, the high potential of criminal activity at apartment communities is always a concern.
“Apartments have a higher density of people, and whenever you have a lot of people in one place, you get a higher portion of bad people,” Brown said. “Older complexes sometimes struggle with keeping their occupancy high like they need to, so they run specials that usually involve some monetary break like free rent or no deposit, and that in turn can draw people with lower incomes who may not always be good citizens.”
Brown added that fierce competition among apartment communities who vie for tenants often causes them to lower their standards and possibly cut corners on criminal background checks, for example, which may enable persons with a criminal history to move right in.
“Not only do apartment managers have a social responsibility, but that practice doesn’t even make good business sense,” Brown said, adding that a problematic apartment complex can have a detrimental impact on surrounding neighborhoods as well. “A bad apartment complex can be akin to a cancer in an otherwise healthy body - the crime will radiate outward, you can’t contain it to the complex, and eventually it reaches out.”
Across the board, local authorities agree with the National Council on Crime Prevention that the number one problem at area apartment communities are property crimes like burglaries and car break-ins, as well as narcotics activity.
“Apartments usually have more calls for vehicle burglaries,” said Deputy Karen Miller of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office District 2. “That's probably because of the lack of garages. Also, depending on the
apartment complex and neighborhood, some ‘entrepreneurs’ sell drugs in the complex, usually near the front gate. That way they can monitor when the police arrive.”
Miller said that some narcotics dealers like to conduct their business just inside the security gate. They know that before police can get inside the slow-moving gates, they will have time to disappear into the bowels of the complex or jump a fence to adjacent properties.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Jose Amstutz said that most apartment crimes reported to his department in East Montgomery County are related to burglaries of motor vehicles during nighttime hours, and residential break-ins during the day.
“Apartments have such a large volume of cars, and crooks just walk through the parking lot lifting door handles,” Amstutz said. “They blend in better, there. There are plenty of people there, and it’s not as suspicious as it would be in a neighborhood. Such a large amount of vehicles in such a small area is a big temptation for car burglars.”
Amstutz pointed out that car burglaries happen just about anywhere, though, where car owners allow crooks easy access to their valuables. Vigilance and a consistent habit of locking up are all-important and can prevent a large number of crimes.
Although one might think that the increased likelihood of crime at multi-housing units would give pause to apartment dwellers, many residents feel safe just where they are, and the occasional flash of emergency lights may not necessarily mean there’s cause for concern.
“A survey conducted by Apartments.com found that 78 percent of renters feel extremely to moderately safe in their apartments,” Meyers said. “And being the victim of a personal attack is the number one concern to renters, followed by theft and burglary at 33 percent.”
Ryan Jones purchased a single-family home in Atascocita about a year ago, but he vividly remembers his experience of living at Meadowbrook Apartments on South Bender Avenue in Humble for two years.
“I had gotten some false ads from the Internet; I moved to the area blindly,” he recalled. “It was not what they advertised, but I showed up with a U-Haul and that was it, I had no choice. In the two years I lived there, my car was broken into three times. They never took anything, but they broke my windows.”
Nevertheless, Jones said he was never scared or feared for his well-being, never worried that the crooks would take their mischief one step further and break into his apartment.
“There were lots of random things happening there and the cops could be called anytime,” he said, noting that the police station was only a couple of blocks from his small two-bedroom apartment, which he rented for $700 per month. “My neighbors and I always looked out for each other. If you're a woman or a single parent, things would be different, but as a single guy I felt OK. That's just what you get for living in lower-income housing.”
Jones said, however, that he does feel much safer now, living in his home in Atascocita. As a bonus, he said, his car insurance dropped by $12 per month, a fact he attributes to the decreased chance of being victimized by crime in his current surroundings.
Ramone Griffin, who used to be a tenant at the Camden Wyndham Apartments at Cypress Station in Spring, said that she never heard of any car or apartment break-ins during her stay there. What she remembered were the loud altercations among neighbors.
“There was a lot of domestic violence there,” she said. “Every other weekend I heard screams and the next thing you know, there would be three or four police officers there.”
Kelly Hobbs with Pegasus Property Management, a management company that - among others - oversees the Memorial Glen Quadruplex on South Bender Avenue in Humble, said that her office has taken steps to help deter crime at Pegasus properties.
Only recently, a shoot-out occurred on Memorial Glen grounds in which one person was injured and four individuals were arrested, a clear downward spiral from the narcotics activity and loitering the apartment community has battled for some time now, but still a rather isolated incident.
“Our company decided we should hire courtesy officers to see if they can get a handle on things,” Hobbs said. “One or two officers at a time rotate between properties. They don’t just sit and take note; they are very aggressive, giving out warnings and making themselves very visible. We’re hoping our residents will see that we are taking care of our communities.”
Hobbs explained that Pegasus is in the employ of the properties’ homeowners association which regulates Memorial Glen Quadruplex, a conglomerate of four apartment/condominium communities owned by different individuals.
“We don’t imply that we provide safety for our tenants; that’s ultimately their own responsibility,” Hobbs said. “But we’re tired of owners who rent to anyone, affecting others who screen their tenants. Some of the owners have never even seen their property, maybe they just bought it to invest their money or for tax purposes. Those owners ignore us and tell us their property managers take care of their buildings, but when confronted with the problems, these managers don’t even know what we’re talking about.”
Brown said that the lack of tenant screening is the exact type of development he hopes to prevent in the Kingwood area. At this time, he said, most local apartment complexes are still doing well, but experience working in southwest Houston has shown him what can happen if an apartment community goes bad.
He strongly supports the idea of apartment managers sharing ideas and putting competition aside in an effort to keep Kingwood apartment communities as safe as possible. Consequently, he is considering the implementation of a program similar to Humble’s CARE co-op in the Kingwood area.
“I want to arrest any kind of downward pressure that may result from having to keep occupancy rates high, and I would like to see apartment managers support each other and not lower their standards in terms of monetary breaks or criminal background checks, because that could inevitably result in attracting the kind of people that may not pay the bills and resort to criminal behavior,” he said. “I hope they resist that temptation of letting in anyone who knocks on the door.”
“According to the National Crime Prevention Council, apartments are 85 percent more likely to be victimized by burglars than other types of housing,” said Humble Police Department Officer David Meyers at last month’s monthly CARE (Caring About Residents Everywhere) luncheon, a casual forum where apartment managers from 13 Humble apartment communities meet to exchange ideas and discuss crime and crime prevention at their properties.
Lt. Carlton Brown of the Houston Police Department Kingwood Division said that although apartment complexes in Kingwood currently experience little, if any, major problems with out-of-control crime, the high potential of criminal activity at apartment communities is always a concern.
“Apartments have a higher density of people, and whenever you have a lot of people in one place, you get a higher portion of bad people,” Brown said. “Older complexes sometimes struggle with keeping their occupancy high like they need to, so they run specials that usually involve some monetary break like free rent or no deposit, and that in turn can draw people with lower incomes who may not always be good citizens.”
Brown added that fierce competition among apartment communities who vie for tenants often causes them to lower their standards and possibly cut corners on criminal background checks, for example, which may enable persons with a criminal history to move right in.
“Not only do apartment managers have a social responsibility, but that practice doesn’t even make good business sense,” Brown said, adding that a problematic apartment complex can have a detrimental impact on surrounding neighborhoods as well. “A bad apartment complex can be akin to a cancer in an otherwise healthy body - the crime will radiate outward, you can’t contain it to the complex, and eventually it reaches out.”
Across the board, local authorities agree with the National Council on Crime Prevention that the number one problem at area apartment communities are property crimes like burglaries and car break-ins, as well as narcotics activity.
“Apartments usually have more calls for vehicle burglaries,” said Deputy Karen Miller of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office District 2. “That's probably because of the lack of garages. Also, depending on the
apartment complex and neighborhood, some ‘entrepreneurs’ sell drugs in the complex, usually near the front gate. That way they can monitor when the police arrive.”
Miller said that some narcotics dealers like to conduct their business just inside the security gate. They know that before police can get inside the slow-moving gates, they will have time to disappear into the bowels of the complex or jump a fence to adjacent properties.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Jose Amstutz said that most apartment crimes reported to his department in East Montgomery County are related to burglaries of motor vehicles during nighttime hours, and residential break-ins during the day.
“Apartments have such a large volume of cars, and crooks just walk through the parking lot lifting door handles,” Amstutz said. “They blend in better, there. There are plenty of people there, and it’s not as suspicious as it would be in a neighborhood. Such a large amount of vehicles in such a small area is a big temptation for car burglars.”
Amstutz pointed out that car burglaries happen just about anywhere, though, where car owners allow crooks easy access to their valuables. Vigilance and a consistent habit of locking up are all-important and can prevent a large number of crimes.
Although one might think that the increased likelihood of crime at multi-housing units would give pause to apartment dwellers, many residents feel safe just where they are, and the occasional flash of emergency lights may not necessarily mean there’s cause for concern.
“A survey conducted by Apartments.com found that 78 percent of renters feel extremely to moderately safe in their apartments,” Meyers said. “And being the victim of a personal attack is the number one concern to renters, followed by theft and burglary at 33 percent.”
Ryan Jones purchased a single-family home in Atascocita about a year ago, but he vividly remembers his experience of living at Meadowbrook Apartments on South Bender Avenue in Humble for two years.
“I had gotten some false ads from the Internet; I moved to the area blindly,” he recalled. “It was not what they advertised, but I showed up with a U-Haul and that was it, I had no choice. In the two years I lived there, my car was broken into three times. They never took anything, but they broke my windows.”
Nevertheless, Jones said he was never scared or feared for his well-being, never worried that the crooks would take their mischief one step further and break into his apartment.
“There were lots of random things happening there and the cops could be called anytime,” he said, noting that the police station was only a couple of blocks from his small two-bedroom apartment, which he rented for $700 per month. “My neighbors and I always looked out for each other. If you're a woman or a single parent, things would be different, but as a single guy I felt OK. That's just what you get for living in lower-income housing.”
Jones said, however, that he does feel much safer now, living in his home in Atascocita. As a bonus, he said, his car insurance dropped by $12 per month, a fact he attributes to the decreased chance of being victimized by crime in his current surroundings.
Ramone Griffin, who used to be a tenant at the Camden Wyndham Apartments at Cypress Station in Spring, said that she never heard of any car or apartment break-ins during her stay there. What she remembered were the loud altercations among neighbors.
“There was a lot of domestic violence there,” she said. “Every other weekend I heard screams and the next thing you know, there would be three or four police officers there.”
Kelly Hobbs with Pegasus Property Management, a management company that - among others - oversees the Memorial Glen Quadruplex on South Bender Avenue in Humble, said that her office has taken steps to help deter crime at Pegasus properties.
Only recently, a shoot-out occurred on Memorial Glen grounds in which one person was injured and four individuals were arrested, a clear downward spiral from the narcotics activity and loitering the apartment community has battled for some time now, but still a rather isolated incident.
“Our company decided we should hire courtesy officers to see if they can get a handle on things,” Hobbs said. “One or two officers at a time rotate between properties. They don’t just sit and take note; they are very aggressive, giving out warnings and making themselves very visible. We’re hoping our residents will see that we are taking care of our communities.”
Hobbs explained that Pegasus is in the employ of the properties’ homeowners association which regulates Memorial Glen Quadruplex, a conglomerate of four apartment/condominium communities owned by different individuals.
“We don’t imply that we provide safety for our tenants; that’s ultimately their own responsibility,” Hobbs said. “But we’re tired of owners who rent to anyone, affecting others who screen their tenants. Some of the owners have never even seen their property, maybe they just bought it to invest their money or for tax purposes. Those owners ignore us and tell us their property managers take care of their buildings, but when confronted with the problems, these managers don’t even know what we’re talking about.”
Brown said that the lack of tenant screening is the exact type of development he hopes to prevent in the Kingwood area. At this time, he said, most local apartment complexes are still doing well, but experience working in southwest Houston has shown him what can happen if an apartment community goes bad.
He strongly supports the idea of apartment managers sharing ideas and putting competition aside in an effort to keep Kingwood apartment communities as safe as possible. Consequently, he is considering the implementation of a program similar to Humble’s CARE co-op in the Kingwood area.
“I want to arrest any kind of downward pressure that may result from having to keep occupancy rates high, and I would like to see apartment managers support each other and not lower their standards in terms of monetary breaks or criminal background checks, because that could inevitably result in attracting the kind of people that may not pay the bills and resort to criminal behavior,” he said. “I hope they resist that temptation of letting in anyone who knocks on the door.”
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