Large cities need to be strategic in how they use limited resources to target distressed properties. The IndyStar reports that Indianapolis has decided to concentrate its efforts by filing lawsuits against landlords who own multiple properties with high crime rates. The Fire Department said there were 90 arson fires in vacant buildings last year many set by homeless people seeking to keep warm. The local prosecutor handling the cases said that:
….. the city cross-referenced building code violations with high crime rates to prioritize which buildings and landlords to sue. Officials said rundown and unkempt buildings encourage crime.
This is a smart strategy and is most likely to lead to a decrease in crime. It’s one of the points I discuss at length when I teach my course on How Code Enforcement Effects Police Operations.
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property
January is the time of year when I try to clean up my office at work and at home. Sometimes I come across documents that I haven’t used and referred to in 7 years and they get tossed. However, once in awhile I find something I forgot I had. This time, while cleaning up some training files, I found my copy of “Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs” by the U.S. Department of Justice. It’s the publication used by most crime free housing programs and is available free of charge at www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/148656.pdf
If you’re involved in these landlord training programs or thinking about starting one, this is a great resource to have. It has a lot of useful information and I used it as my handout when I taught the legal aspects section for Carol Stream’s Apartment Community Enhancement program. Even if you don’t have the program, it has great ideas to share with landlords whether you’re an inspector or a police officer.
When there is a business in town that is a problem for the police, there’s an excellent chance that it’s also a place with fire and building code violations. In Petersburg, VA a man was shot at a business where the occupancy of the building was 100 more persons than it should have been. http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/local-news/2010/nov/30/pete30-ar-683770/ In the 2 years the business was open, it was cited 9 times for violations of the fire, safety and building codes. Many of the violations were for overcrowding. When I teach my class on the relationship between code enforcement and law enforcement, I explore how effective enforcement of the building and fire codes can reduce crime. My next class is January 7, 2011 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Il. Many of these crimes can be prevented by being vigilant in our enforcement of fire code regulations, especially at entertainment venues.
Sometimes a code violation is so serious that it demands more than the usual citation. In a recent case in Ontario, Cananda a landlord pleaded guilty to fire code violations after an explosion severely burnt a person in a residence converted to a rooming house. http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2860945 The defendant was placed on probation but could have received jail. We should not forget that in some cases, the situation may cry out for criminal penalties. In Illinois we have a criminal housing management statute which probably isn’t used as often as it could be. It’s important for code officials to have a strong working relationship with the local governmental agency’s police department so law enforcement doesn’t hesitate to become involved when it should. The police are not going to investigate unless a complaint is made and the code official assists the police in understanding how bad the circumstances are. It is important to deter landlords who try to save money by gambling with tenants’ lives.
When dealing with unsafe buildings, code inspectors shouldn’t forget to consider whether criminal charges might be appropriate. A builder in Pennsylvania was recently charged with theft, deceptive practices and other related offenses. Montgomery Media reported that:
“According to articles in a local daily newspaper, the breadth of shoddy workmanship was staggering: The building had exposed electrical wiring, fire escape stairwells built of wood instead of the required steel, stair landings were constructed of particle board, the sprinkler system was inoperable, concrete block walls held together solely by mortar joints, and a garage wall had cracked concrete blocks, and other structural deficiencies were found by inspectors.” http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2010/10/27/springford_reporter_valley_item/news/doc4cc1fe499a784668359492.txt
In criminal cases, the judge can set specific requirements as a condition of probation that may aid the inspector in getting compliance with the code.
It seems that whenever I travel to conduct trainings, I find interesting items in the local press for this blog. My trip to Troy, Michigan last week for SEMBOIA was no exception. The Detroit Free Press had a very good article about using demolition wisely to target high crime areas. http://www.freep.com/article/20100421/NEWS05/4210312/Vacant-Detroit-homes-where-crime-thrives-the-first-to-go It seems the local agencies worked to determine which vacant buildings were located in areas with the highest concentration of homicides, assaults, rapes, robberies and arsons. Instead of tearing down vacant buildings here and there throughout the city, this approach recognizes that vacant buildings breed crime and that targeting specific areas is a better use of the funds available. At a time when funds for demolition quickly run out, it’s an approach that is very smart.
The recent class I taught for the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn was very well attended and the feedback was terrific. Apparently the information covered was very valuable for the audience which was a mixture of police officers and code enforcement personnel. Too often law enforcement officers are intimidated when dealing with corporate entities as defendants, mainly because they don’t understand the procedures that have to be followed. In class, I tried to demystify the corporate process by showing how easy it is to search for corporate information on the Secretary of State website and how to look up ownership at the Recorder of Deeds website. Sometimes law enforcement officers don’t know how to find out who owns property. It can be critical when dealing with rental property. I also discussed how to use condemnation and demolition proceedings when trying to deal with problem properties as well as overcrowding issues and rental inspection ordinances. I’m going to be teaching the class again on February 26, 2010 and may even be taking the “show on the road”. I think law enforcement officials are eager to add new crime fighting tools to their techniques, especially with the number of vacant and abandoned buildings increasing in communities.
While preparing for a workshop I’ll be doing on 11/3/09 at the College of DuPage, Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, on the relationship between law enforcement and code enforcement, I came across a very informative publication at the website of the National Vacant Properties Campaign entitled Vacant Properties: the True Cost to Communities. You can download it at http://www.vacantproperties.org/resources/reports.html It contains research on the relationship between crime and vacant and abandoned properties in neighborhoods along with a very good bibliography.
Tom Pahnke, an inspector for Manhattan, IL, commented on my recent post about people selling things out of their foreclosed homes. His town has a best practices procedure that includes the police department in monitoring these homes. He even notified an attorney for a lender when he noticed people offering items for sale on Craig’s List. The attorney was able to get a restraining order. Tom said he routinely looks at Craig’s List and local papers to see what’s going on. Tom has generously offered to share a copy of his handout/presentation with anyone who’d like to contact him. He can be reached at tpahnke@VillageOfManhattan.org.
The Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting article in the paper today about how many homes are being stripped of everything before the lender takes possession. Certain items are considered part of the real estate. Those items are known as fixtures. A fixture is normally considered to be any physical property that is permanently attached to real property (e.g. molding, countertops, toilets etc.) so aren’t supposed to be removed when people lose their homes. http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1792042,CST-NWS-strip27.article I’ve heard this is going on all over the country to the extent that some lenders are paying people facing foreclosure to leave without damaging the property. What caught my attention is how difficult it is to prosecute the guilty party. As a former assistant state’s attorney I know how challenging it can be to prosecute someone for criminal damage to property or theft unless there is an eyewitness. While some guilty parties may confess when confronted by the police officer investigating the case, suspects often know that there is no way to prove the case against them without an admission of guilt. Just because they had the opportunity commit the damage or steal doesn’t mean a prosecutor can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Many times vandals strip empty houses so it’s not necessarily the former homeowner who is the perpetrator. It presents a real dilemma for the police as well at the lender. Of course, if an officer finds the former homeowner listing the old kitchen cabinets on Craig’s list, that case has possibilities.
