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5. Ensure Your Property
Meets or Exceeds Community Standards:
Maintaining a record of community standards can assist in
determining when security upgrading should be considered. Updating
this record on a regular diaried basis (along with updating
security, if so indicated) can prove invaluable in the event of a
premises liability suit, since it shows the jury that apartment
management was proactive--that it actively made an attempt to
achieve superior--or at least adequate security on an ongoing basis.
Establishing the community standards relating to security just
involves determining what countermeasures are in place at the nearby
comparable apartment complexes. Compiling a community standards
report should take less than an hour.
To prepare a community standards report, simply visit several
comparable neighboring apartment complexes and determine what
security related countermeasures are in place. Visual inspection is
usually adequate, but it doesn't hurt to talk with your peers at
these complexes.
You then simply determine whether your apartment complex has
comparable or superior countermeasures in place to meet or exceed
these community standards. For example, if there are seven
comparable apartment complexes nearby and six are "gated
communities" which employ security officers, all things being
equal, if your facility had no access control, security would be
below community standards and present increased exposure in the
event of adverse litigation; and possibly in fact, as well.
It is recommended that these brief comparisons be made quarterly, or
at least twice a year, and that the brief reports be retained in a
file for at least seven years.
6. Create A Check List Security Maintenance Review Log:
In most cases, apartment management regularly makes rounds of the
apartment complex checking for burned out lights, broken windows,
problems with locks and other security related deficiencies or
general irregularities. Often this is done on a casual basis, with a
manager just taking a stroll around the complex in the evening.
These informal observations are often made on a nightly basis, but
by all means should be made at least weekly.
Usually, apartment management does not document this type of
activity in any manner. However, by taking an extra minute or two to
log these rounds, a valuable defense tool is available in the event
of adverse litigation.
The log does not have to be an elaborate form and need not be formal
in appearance. A spiral notebook would suffice in most cases with
handwritten headings similar to those below:
Security Maintenance Review Log:
Date Time Initial Deficiencies Noted Action taken
In depositions and in court, I have seen many apartment managers
explain how they, perhaps accompanied by their spouses, take a
stroll around the apartment complex almost every night at different
times to see if there are any problems.
Such testimony is not in the same league as production of a log
initialed by an apartment manager or maintenance worker documenting
specific dates and times of these brief informal inspections, and
itemizing any deficiencies noted and the corrective actions taken.
7. Post Security Related Signs and Other Visible
Countermeasures:
Signs posted at the property perimeter showing countermeasures in
place at an apartment complex can prove to be a viable deterrent to
would be intruders.
However, under no circumstances should there be anything posted or
implied indicating that countermeasures are present--unless they
are, in fact, present. Posting notices that security officers are on
duty when no officers are present, for instance, can give tenants
and invitees a false sense of security which increases risk to these
people and increases liability exposure for the apartment complex.
The same risks would be involved by installing fake television
cameras under the mistaken assumption that they will provide a
deterrent.
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