Tuesday, June 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
A program that teaches applicant screening techniques and identifies potential safety hazards to local apartment managers has cut crime rates by as much as 60 percent in participating complexes.
The three-step Crime Free Multi-Family Housing program trains managers and residents how to identify and prevent crime, identifies structural areas which may contribute to high crime or safety problems and offers monthly meetings where residents can update law enforcement officials on problems they are experiencing.
"In apartment complexes, people live side by side and they never get to meet their neighbors," Metro crime prevention specialist Charles McKee said.
Residents oftentimes don't have ties to the community and tend to move frequently, which contributes to higher rates of crime in these areas, UNLV criminal justice Professor Terry Miethe said.
Alcohol and drug abuse, marital disruption and prostitution are just a few of the social disorder indicators that are higher in apartment complexes.
In addition, "this weak, informal social control puts residents at a "higher risk of being victims of and perpetrators of crime," he said.
The program has widespread support among large-scale property owners and security agencies who report 30 percent to 50 percent reductions in crime in participating communities.
Oasis Residential, the area's largest owner of apartment communities, has participated in the program for 18 months following a survey in which 98 percent of their residents ranked crime as their number one concern.
The company has seen a 28 percent to 35 percent reduction in reported crimes at properties where they coupled the program with the installation of Safety First Officers (SFOs), who act as security/safety watch patrols, corporate director of security Tony Richards said.
One property, for example, experienced a 60 percent drop in crimes -- many of which were committed by unoccupied teens. The company installed a gameroom and started holding community meetings to combat crime. They also evicted about 15 units in a one-month period without recourse from anyone.
"What really makes the program work is commitment," Richards said. "We have gone above and beyond, because we want to make sure our residents feel as safe as possible."
Daryl Cronfeld, president of Official Security, handles security for more than 60 local apartment complexes across the valley as well as several homeowners associations. In all, at least half of his complexes participate in the program.
At the Barcelona Apartments in the Pennwood and Arville area, he has seen at least a 50 percent reduction in crime that "started on the property and moved into the neighborhood," he said.
"The important thing to understand is that most apartment residents are good people," Cronfeld said. "We're talking about a small infinitesimal number of people that make everything look bad, maybe 1 percent."
And these problem tenants do not live exclusively in apartment complexes, so "we have the same problems in residential communities with homeowners associations," he said. "They don't have to be apartment people. That's a misnomer."
Surprisingly, residents have been the hardest people to sell on the program, participants said.
"They don't want to do it, because they don't want retribution if they have to be a witness," Cronfeld said.
But for all its success, the program is not an industry standard, and experts blame it on the cost to upkeep properties.
"A lot of properties managers simply aren't interested," crime specialist McKee said, "because it costs money (to make improvements) and each year you have to get re-certified."
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