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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Publication Date: Not Available
This manual is a "partnership" product based on the efforts and ideas of many different people. It doesn't necessarily represent the views or opinions of any agency, organization, or person. Its sole purpose is the support of proactive community empowerment efforts. It is ONLY a guide-line. Advice from relevant professionals, such as lawyers, should always be sought to assure compliance with local custom or law. Appreciation is also expressed to Patricia Kohnke, Warren Sawyer of the Caleb Group, David Matthews, the Department of Justice's Project Against Violence Network, Ralph Cheyney, and several other people too numerous to name.
A property can go from tranquil to totally out of control with drug-re-lated activity in a few months, perhaps due to the property down the street that has a good program. The "broken window" theory-that if one window is left unbroken [showing that no-one cares] soon all windows will be broken, trash will pile up, and problems mount, may be correct. Pre-ventive maintenance is always cheaper than breakdown maintenance-even if your property doesn't now have a problem, you would be wise to implement programs to make it resistant. The cheapest insurance against drug prob-lems is for on-site and home office staff to do their jobs proactively every single day. Use "Helen's test" for your property-would your mother live there? If not, why, and how could you start adding a little of what the property needs right now? Value and work with resident leaders, who will save you great time and expense if you let them, and recognize that anyone who lives in or wants to live in your property is your customer. A healthy community of happy residents is more effective and cheaper than any physical security like fences and guards.
Years ago I read an editorial, on mass transit. It said that mass transit could be run perfectly if there were no people. Buses would stay clean, they could make their runs on-time, there would never be any complaints, and one could run an ideal mass transit system-without people. We live in the real world, though, with real people, not some ideal world. Some managers we deal with seem to want ideal housing, with ideal residents who pay their rent perfectly on time and don't have problems or issues. Even in the best of housing, that's not realistic.
Some property managers, agencies, and organizations say that community empowerment is "somebody else's job", and that they don't have time to deal with it. The developments they are responsible for reflect their lack of caring. The best way to avoid responsibilities is to say "I've got responsibilities". The problem is that "somebody else" isn't out there. If we don't do it, or inspire others to do it, it doesn't get done. Property management of assisted housing is not a job for couch po-tatoes. On the other hand, there are few jobs with so much opportunity to make a positive difference in people's lives, for those who care.
Before you go any further, ask yourself, "Do I really care about my resi-dents? Are they more than just an irritating route to a paycheck, and monthly rent cows, for me?" If you can't wake up in the morning EXCITED about all the challenges of property management, quit. Your residents already see you as just as bad as the drug dealers, and you are, if you don't care: drug dealers know what they are, but you're keep-ing out someone who could do a good job. If you aren't totally committed to making your property a better place to live, quit-right now. If you are totally committed to a sustained effort that may take 3 years or more of your life, then read on.
Drug Elimination is a negative goal, like losing weight. It is necessary, yes, but hardly something to get excited about. Drug abuse is only a symptom of community problems. Healthy communities resist it effortlessly. We have problems because as a society, we don't know what healthy communities are anymore, all we know is the pathology of the average. Just arresting drug dealers means there'll be a new crop on the street tomorrow. It takes much more than a little enforcement to make a property drug resistant. You must build a healthy community that works together. Successful Drug Elimination efforts ALWAYS involve community empowerment, which starts with replacing powerless, negative views of the future with hope. If you like to play power games and "slam" people you see as inferior, get out of the business, you won't last. If you like developing leaders of leaders, and instigating good things, you'll do well. Consider that a weak community = weak asset value, and that every-thing you do to strengthen your community, and its quality of life, adds measurable value to your housing asset.
You MUST get residents on your side. Community shame is cheaper, more effective, and a lot faster than any enforcement tool you can use to en-force good behavior. You and the police can't do much if residents don't support your efforts. You MUST develop coalitions and partnerships. You might try HUD's Safe Neighborhood Action Program [SNAP] Model. You can't solve the problem alone, nor can HUD, nor can residents, nor can the po-lice. Remember that if you blame others for your problems, you don't own them, and can't fix them. Do what you can with what you have. You MUST develop rapport with other people by respecting and feeding their inter-ests, even if they don't do the same for you. Remember that position and interest don't always match-you may find that "breaking bread" with some-one in the mayor's office gets you a contact who does far more for you than the person with the official responsibility. Welcome allies wherever they come from, and help them help you.
There are no magic bullets or recipes that work every time. Each commu-nity is different, and each set of solutions must be different, and adapted to local conditions. We give you only the most common elements of what have worked for other people. You will have to weave them together into a comprehensive, holistic, organic whole. You may need to develop a solution never seen or heard of before. Well, do it.
Making developments drug-resistant means developing leaders-instead of waiting for someone else to take action, taking it yourself. Why be a leader? The answer is very simple. Only leaders know what it truly means to be human-they use every gift they've ever been given, and develop other gifts; only they have been tried and tested in the furnace, and proven pure, only they know the beauty of achieving the gold medal after reaching into their deepest depths for what they needed to win.
Look about your community. This is the fuel of your refiner's fire, in which you will become your own crucible. The fire itself is your own pur-pose in life. As you strengthen your community, you strengthen yourself. One's true purpose in life is always exciting-only in the middle of it can a person be truly alive. Leaders ignite that purpose in themselves, and let it burn while it transforms the community around them as it trans-forms them.
Your community has problems because too many people walked away in the past, too many just gave up. You can give up too. You always have that choice. If you do, you'll never know what you could have done, or had the satisfaction of knowing you made a major difference in the lives of your fellows, and you'll never be a Neighborhood Superstar. Or you can CHOOSE CHOOSE CHOOSE CHOOSE CHOOSE TO BE A NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERSTAR RIGHT NOW TO BE A NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERSTAR RIGHT NOW TO BE A NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERSTAR RIGHT NOW TO BE A NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERSTAR RIGHT NOW TO BE A NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERSTAR RIGHT NOW. It starts with that first choice. Make the choice that feels right for you.
You MUST have a clear, inspiring objective, maybe even an exciting "Ideal Day" written out on 2 pages that you review each day on awaking and going to sleep. Clear Goals "make a hole" in the chaos of your day, and some-how, efforts you think are too small just come together to make things happen. Take care of the little things, and the big things take care of themselves... and we know big things aren't taken care of when the little things aren't. You are your goals. Your subconscious mind doesn't under-stand "impossible". If you set yourself impossible goals, it will pa-tiently guide you to the resources you need to achieve them. If you merely set yourself ambitious goals, you'll get there faster. Either way, you grow in a way that is very satisfying.
Assisted Housing was originally seen as "transitional housing", part of a "continuum" that goes from roughly homeless shelter to rent subsidy hous-ing to below market interest rate housing to market rate housing to homeownership. Somehow that continuum was broken, or damaged. We must revive it, and even go further. Here's an Impossible Dream, an inspiring positive counterpart to the Drug Elimination negative goal. Obviously you could substitute your own Impossible Dream, whatever inspires you.
The Cherokee ran self-sufficient Peace Villages. These were sort of a combination college town and homeless shelter, run by very spiritual people. They were also places of refuge; those who had committed crimes, if they could get to one, were untouched as long as they stayed there. After a year, they were free to go-and whatever had caused them to commit crimes was gone, the spiritual people made sure of it.
Peace Villages lasted right up into the 1830's, until Andrew Jackson's deportation of them along the "Trail of Tears". The tradition was so strong they accepted Colonial refugees, and more importantly for Jackson, escaped slaves. Tad James notes a similar Hawaiian concept. Some monasteries in Europe were run similarly; the industrial revolution of the 10th century, in Europe, came out of the monasteries. The Bible mentions 6 refuge cities, 3 on either side of the Jordan River.
Ambitious? Of course. Achievable? Yes. Perhaps you have some other ambitious goal to align your efforts, something comprehensive, that "puts it all together", instead of merely reacting to drug-related activity. Well, use it. Inspire others with it. CREATE IT. Given changes in the funding of assisted housing, we will have no choice but to do a lot more with less. It can be done, and we can even have fun doing it.
There is no magic formula that works every time. This manual only offers ideas, which you will have to weave into your unique community. Some ideas will work for you, others may not. Caring is the core of community, and respect is the center. You must care about and respect your resi-dents. It starts there. Then, you need to inject some "fun" into what you're doing towards your goals. Why do you think kids have unlimited energy? They aren't so foolish as to be serious all the time, like adults. You will know that your efforts are succeeding when they start taking on a "life of their own", when residents start coming up with their own ideas and programs, and agree to run them by themselves, when programs set themselves up with almost no effort from you, when all of a sudden you're a part of something larger that plays you as much as you play it, when you can't wait to get to work for the next neat project you're work-ing on to improve the community, as you push the routine work as fast as you can so you can get to the fun stuff.
If you are committed, you are a "salesman" for future potential. The residents have to also want a drug-free place to live. The best single cure for drug-related problems is hope. If your residents have hope about their future, and a belief that they have some control over their future, your job will be possible. If they lack hope, you [and they] will have to find ways to nurture hope. We are our dreams, and our goals. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Humans are naturally goal-seeking organ-isms. Without goals that excite them, they get side-tracked into petty bickering and backbiting, and negative short term goals like drugs, and all the nasty things that accompany that.
Don't define your community's needs-define your community's interests and strengths. Work from your strengths. Don't define your community's prob-lem- define your community's goals, and align your efforts towards making them happen. What you concentrate on grows. If you concentrate on need and problems, you'll find you have more of both. Concentrate on what you want.
There are four interlinked areas to grow into:
Resident involvement is absolutely the most important, none of the others can be effective without it. Any police officer will tell you that they can't be everywhere, and that 1,000 pairs of eyes are better than 1.
One way to get residents started is to ask for their opinions, and help. When they get over the shock of realizing a manager actually cares about their opinions, you will start collecting the data you need. Also, by asking questions like, "How can we work together to solve this problem?", their minds start focusing on just that.
Oh, they'll be really negative at first. Let them "vent". Some of them may never have been able to get some issues off their chest. When they "vent", make eye contact, lean forward, take notes, and at least appear to be extremely interested in what they say, and talk only to keep them talk-ing. Most people run out of steam fairly soon, and their attitude towards you will be permanently different. Some agents use an informational let-ter to start this process. We recommend face to face contact. Letters are junk mail, and you'll get a junk mail response.
You'll need to show some immediate results. Clean up what you can around the site, and start screening new applicants. Start doing the regular management things that must have been let go for the property to be where it is now. Make your first partnership with your residents, and the sec-ond with the police. Ask the police, "How can I help you do your job bet-ter?" or "What would have to happen for X to occur?" Their interest is in efficient felony busts and convictions, and eventually, communities that don't need much attention because they head off problems at the source. If you help them make their numbers, they will help you. Once you get along with the police, residents need to know who to forward information to, and they MUST BE ABLE TO FORWARD IT ANONYMOUSLY. Drug dealers can take fearsome revenge, and residents know that. You will by this time have shown you care, and you MUST TAKE ACTION on justified complaints.
Residents must begin to believe that you are actually going to take ac-tion, and that a drug-free property is possible to hope for. As they be-lieve that to be possible, peer pressure like shame will start to work for you.
Some managers say they don't have time for anything proactive. Of course they don't, no-one does. You have to reorder your priorities. If you are doing everything associated with Drug Elimination, there's a major prob-lem. Whose community is it? If residents aren't interested, the goal won't be achieved. Think of yourself as a catalyst, a focus point, a force multiplier, an instigator of good things, of someone who motivates others, who gets things started and lets others take over.
One other point: set ambitious, impossible goals set ambitious, impossible goals set ambitious, impossible goals set ambitious, impossible goals set ambitious, impossible goals. Post those goals on your wall, maybe even with a collage of magazine pictures, whatever it takes to turn you on emotionally about your goals. Keep a notebook with those goals at the top of a page, and jot down ideas as they occur. You may find those goals aren't so impossible. If you aim for the stars and hit the mountain, you're still better off than aiming for the hill and hitting a rock, right? Setting goals focuses your subconscious mind, which doesn't know anything is impossible, also. When you have a really insoluble problem, fill your mind with all the details of the problem, especially just before bedtime. Then forget about it totally. Have a notebook ready for when ideas for solutions come through. This is what all creative people do, in some form.
from TAP Connections Vol. 12 No. 3 SUMMER 1996, Copyright MHFA-TAP One Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108-4805, 617 854 1000 shared with permission
Alcohol, Disorder & Crime On TAP
Tony Flaherty, Center for Community Recovery Innovations, Inc.
Behind most broken homes and hearts in America, you can find broken bottles. - Tony Flaherty
Nationally, HUD is in the middle of an eight year plan to demolish 100,000 high and mid-rise public and assisted housing units (NY Times 6/ 2/ 96). All major cities are involved, and replacements are to be low-rise and scat-tered. The effort is meeting with mixed reviews. Some residents feel it is a good idea; others feel drug havens are just being dressed up. Ex-perts, in turn, counter that success and quality of life will be rest upon joint efforts of management and residents.
HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros said, "This has potential to change Ameri-can cities because so many are damaged by the out of control conditions in public housing." I want to believe him, and I know that if HUD, Management Agents, Residents, Housing Authorities, Developers, Social Workers, Gover-nors, Mayors, Cops, and even some robbers, could favorably impact the quality of life in inner-city housing for the poor, they would. But they don't, and won't, because they can't. They can't without addressing the cause of most 'out of control condition'... the community illness of alco-holism or alcohol abuse. This is the cause of most neighborhood crime and violence in our homes. Ironically, the many who will make speeches about "drugs", stay silent on the most accessible drug of all: alcohol. To do otherwise is to be branded a 'neo-prohibitionist'.
In its Spring, 1996 Review, the Brookings Institute published an article entitled ' Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime'. Professor John J. DiIulio, Director of the Brookings Center for Public Management, docu-ments the density of beer and liquor outlets in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods with chilling observations. Reading it, I had to wonder if housing advocates might not be afflicted with an insanity similar to that of the alcoholic, who does the same things over and over again expecting different results, when we ignore the pervasive availability of the drug alcohol in a community where rehabilitation efforts are initiated.
I surveyed a neighborhood in which several HUD-foreclosed properties are slated for renovation. This 3.98 square mile area contained no less than 43 legal beer and alcohol outlets. This did not account for clubs, after-hour joints, or "kitchen barrooms". Does such a concentration of alcohol outlets happen by chance? Does resultant numbing and dumbing of the poor legitimatize nightmarish thinking that inner-cities of America are places where occupants can be contained through barbed wires of the mind wound by addiction to alcohol, and consequently other drugs? When you add the sad facts that (1) there are few homes in this country not touched by the shadow of alcohol abuse, (2) there is now little or no treatment, and (3) no accountability for targeting children in alcohol advertising, can we see how effective the alcohol industry's three billion dollar advertising and political lobbying efforts can be in silencing those who suffer from their own or someone else's drinking?
Professor DiIulio's observations, reprinted with permission of the Brookings Institute, follow [" Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime", Brookings Review, Spring 1996. Brookings Institution Press:]
No social disorder is at once so disruptive in its own right and so con-ducive of other disorders as public drinking.
A 1993 feature in U. S. News and World Report reported on the reality of a typical inner-city child named John: "To John, Tom's Liquor is a short walk from his house, school, and storefront church in the same shopping strip. A slew of transactions take John to Tom's. He tags along with his mom when she goes to cash her welfare checks free of charge. With no supermarket nearby, John goes to Tom's when he wants a candy bar. Even when his mother takes him to the adjoining neighborhoods, John rarely sees a bank or supermarket. Many neighborhood traits convey disorder, but un-checked public drinking is a particularly potent affirmation that 'no-one cares'. That is the message John gains by observing Tom's Liquor, where winos and crack addicts congregate at night in the parking lot."
If you want to get somewhere, you generally need to know where you are now. Just taking action blindly rarely achieves useful results. You must define your arena and your mission carefully, and then align everything you do with that mission. Remember the "Observer Effect"; just by making a picture of what you have, you begin the healing process.
For needs assessments, you have to document your problems, compare them with services and resources available, and determine what more is needed. This is a typical part of many grant applications. The counterpart of Asset/Strength Assessment is discussed later.
maps depicting communities and surrounding areas, highlight major access highways and interstates. This might include a Geological Survey topo-graphical map from the library, a road map, and so forth.
diagram of property, with photos of drug-related housing problems (open access areas, high traffic areas, congregation points, drug sales areas) etc. Check your city hall, there may be a site plan on file.
number of units, families/ tenants, age of physical structures, condition of outdoor lighting and other relevant physical features
Drug dealers feel comfortable with visible signs of neighborhood decay and social disorder in a property. They know their activities are "masked" by the disarray, and that they can easily stash contraband nearby out of sight. Drug dealers applying to your property suggest that its appearance announces a landlord who doesn't care. Common areas and yards that look like junkyards, abandoned cars, graffiti-filled walls, broken windows and doors are an advertisement to attract more unpleasant characters, and drive away good tenants. They work well.
Whatever you do, never show a unit with code violations to an applicant who might be engaged in drug-related activity. You could just as easily say, "I won't tell on you if you won't tell on me." Boarded up units are sometimes taken over, too, and sometimes tenants sublet their units for storage or occupancy by drug dealers.
Are all exterior areas surrounding the building, parking areas, stair-wells, walkways, adequately lit? Lighting does not have to be expensive to work. Speedy maintenance is more important than the lights themselves-a light that doesn't work doesn't exist.
Is "image" maintained such that residents take pride in their surround-ings, and even take on projects like community gardens? If you don't care about appearance, you may be sure no-one else will. Maintenance personnel may not like cleaning up around trash containers, but if they don't, con-sider the image you project... Residents who are proud of their homes take the time to keep their "HOME" looking good. Low income needn't have anything to do with filth, but lack of pride goes hand in hand with it.
DETRITUS: discarded needles and ammunition, glass tubes about 4" long - perhaps with steel wool at one end [crack], aluminum foil [hash or crack], small temporary tattoos like "blue stars"[ LSD], blackened spoons, "reefer" butts, aluminum cans with holes on one side [crack], blood, or even tea strainers or baking soda containers [crack]. Bullet holes in buildings. Tennis shoes on telephone lines can be an advertisement. Be sure you in-terpret graffiti-it often communicates messages. Drug clearinghouses have more detailed lists of such signs.
BEHAVIOR: "flashy" displays of wealth, or repeated rent delinquency. Wild parties, undeclared "live-ins", gunshots, drug arrests, increasing turn-over especially of good tenants, more loitering than usual, fear of prop-erty by prospective tenants, erratic traffic especially at night, weekends and "check day" or payday.
It is highly recommended you keep copies of all newspaper articles on your development and the neighborhood.
The most common sign is fear among good tenants. What is it like to have one's stomach knotted up with terror every time one leaves the apartment, to have one's children sleep in the bathtub because it will stop bullets, to keep one's children in "lockdown" all the time, to avoid any social event or gathering of people?
The Institute of Real Estate Management recommends using census data to draw a picture of your neighborhood, and then comparing your residents with that neighborhood profile, or the city profile. Sometimes non-profit groups have already digested census information for you to use, as well. Elements that could be considered include:
Population, Average household size, Single parent households percent of renters vs. owners, Average age and income, Employment rate, and mix of occupations, Percentage of Welfare recipients, Racial and Ethnic composition, Educational levels, Languages spoken, Num-ber of latchkey children, unemployment statistics, families below poverty levels, youth below poverty levels, families receiving economic assistance, homelessness, high school Dropout rates, educational opportunities, economic development, teen pregnancy, pregnant substance abusers, AIDS/ HIV, IV drug users, Tu-berculosis cases, and anything else relevant to the site.
School problems and drug-related activity go hand in hand. For children in your developments, find out:
Number/ percent of children in remedial programs, Attendance levels (tru-ancy), High School graduates, those who go on to college/ technical educa-tion, Grades and Drop-out rates
and then compare them to the larger community.
If the kids have "nothing to do", surprise! you have a crew of bored energetic individuals who enjoy causing trouble. One chronically vandalized property we worked with traced its vandalism to the large population of under 12 year old children who had absolutely nothing to do, no programs or anything. If you have no activities for the children on your site, you are begging for trouble. Feed resident interest, and create relevant programs jointly with them. This is as important as timely rent collection. Interestingly enough, problem properties rarely do either job well.
The state of the family is the state of the community. Troubled families lead to trouble in the community. You could figure out the following, then compare with the larger community.
Single parent headed households, Domestic disturbances reported, Child abuse/ neglect, Prenatal care, and similar services, "Extended family" units, or units with grandparents taking care of children because their parents can't.
Some managers consider this to be "soft" skills, a useless extra. Yet the health of the community is directly related to the financial health of the property. What programs can you create, working with others? What about parenting/ budgeting/ peer counselling/ conflict resolution programs? Any-thing you do to strengthen families strengthens the community, which im-proves the value of your housing asset.
Drug involvement and despair go together. Employment makes a difference, and provides role models and stable community service. Consider: Unem-ployed persons: number, age, sex, skills, Primary employers in area, "Job bank" or job training resources, Cost and availability of public transportation.
What job training and placement programs, transportation for residents to and from their place of work, and remedial education programs for resi-dents can you "network" together? Employed people are better sources of rental income, too.
| 1995 | 1996 | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|
| DEVELOPMENT | ||
| CITY | ||
| COUNTY | ||
| STATE | ||
| OTHER |
| DEVELOPMENT | CITY | COUNTY | STATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per Capita Income | |||
| Unemployment | |||
| Families Below Poverty Level | |||
| Youths Below Poverty Level | |||
| AFDC households | |||
| Social Security Households | |||
| Unemployment Compensation Households |
| Annual Clients | Treatment slots | Ages served | Outreach targets | Referral source | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detox | ||||||
| Residential Counseling | ||||||
| Outpatient Resident Program | ||||||
| Special Group Counsel |
If you have rapport with your police department, you can usually get a listing of police data for your project and neighborhood, sorted by date and address. Some cities even have mapping programs to show crime incidence imposed on a map. You may want to compare project data with previous years, newspaper articles as stored in the public library, the surrounding neighborhood, or even the city. Comparisons can be useful to show need.
A summary Uniform Crime Reporting classification, which is how you're likely to get police statistics, follows:
300 Robberies
400 Felony Assaults
500 Burglaries
600 Larcenies
700 Auto Thefts
800 Non-felony assaults
1100 Larceny receiving
1200 Dangerous weapons
1400 Sex offenses [except rape]
1500 Offense against family
1600 Narcotics
1900 Maintenance of order
You may want to show both drug crimes (sales/ possession) and drug-related crimes (homicides, burglary, robbery, loitering, etc.) You can compare data for different years to show increasing problems, and punctuate this with a count of, say, newspaper articles, and perhaps some resident comments.
Research elements might include:
Mapping programs aren't necessary to show time of day and day of week data for individual offenses, but they show this data in a very nice graphic form. You definitely want to look at crime by address, to see where spe-cifically it's occuring, and to determine anything in the neighborhood that induces crime. You may want to determine if a small number of resi-dents are responsible for most of the crime. One very common problem is outsiders; generally, 80%+ of crime in HUD projects is caused by outsid-ers. Drug buyers for street-level markets almost always come from outside the city, as well.
BE SURE TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
| UCR Part I Crimes | Development 1994 | Development 1995 | % CHANGE | CITY 1994 | CITY 1995 | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MURDER | ||||||
| ROBBERY | ||||||
| ASSAULT | ||||||
| Forcible Rape | ||||||
| Burglary | ||||||
| Larceny/theft | ||||||
| Vehicle theft | ||||||
| VIOLENT CRIME | ||||||
| PROPERTY CRIME | ||||||
| TOTALS |
| Substance abuse/drug trafficking related crimes are IN BOLD PRINT. TYPE II CRIMES, which could be similarly shown, include Drug Sales, Drug Possession, DUIs, Liquor Violations, Weapons, Vandalism Stolen Property, Prostitution, Sex Offenses, Domestic Violence, Curfew Violation, Runaways. Emphasis is for crimes related to substance abuse and drug trafficking. |
Identify: your jurisdiction's population, your property's population, the number of sworn officers, the number of uniformed officers, the number of officers on duty at any given time, the primary shifts of officers (e. g., day, evening, and swing, etc.), the number of calls for police assistance (911 calls, other calls), drug and crime data from police records, through interviews with uniformed patrol and narcotics officers-how much time is spent policing property area, the types of law enforcement activities performed on premises.
Use data to determine whether you are receiving above, below, or standard police services per capita.
Police and Fire Departments, Newspapers, Department of Parks and Recre-ation, Police Athletic league, Universities, State social agencies, YMCA, United Way, Public libraries, Tutoring Centers.
Whatever you do, keep all newspaper clippings related to any of the above factors and their impact on housing community residents. You may even want to start keeping a file of this sort of thing, as convenient, for future applications.
THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY. ALWAYS CONSIDER HOW DATA IMPACTS INDIVIDUALS, AND HOW IT REFLECTS WHAT IS NOT ON THE MAP. DATA IS NEVER COMPLETE, AND YOU MUST ALWAYS BE OPEN TO NEW DATA.
You might consider the field of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design here. A separate manual on this is available from wherever you got this manual. Get information from everyone who knows anything. Be SURE you walk the grounds yourself, during the day, on weekends, and at night. Especially at night on weekends: you may find a difference of "night and day".
As you look at the physical plant, realize that you can't prevent drug-related activity, but you can make it harder for people to engage in it. Jersey barriers, concrete sections about 8' x 2' x 2', that force customers to turn around instead of drive through can reduce drug traffic by 80%, for example.
Security can be useful for reducing drug-related activity. Dealers have little fear of the criminal justice system. Security personnel can seem to residents to be the cutting edge of enforcement. So when there are problems, guess who has civil liability? You. Don't promote this image. Define what security officers are, for residents, and note that it's confined to property and safety. You may also want to find some other name for Security Guards. They are only an extra set of eyes. They may give a false sense of security under that name. If you promise a Security System in your literature, and it doesn't work, could you be held liable in court? Local police take care of crime, not the security officer.
Security patrols are expensive. If there's a drug problem, you'll need guards from perhaps dusk to dawn on weekdays, and around the clock on weekends/ holidays. Multiply $10/hour per guard x 12 hours/day x 5 week-days/wk x 52 wks/year, plus $10/hr/guard x 24 hours/day x 2.1 weekend/holiday days/week x 52 wks/year, and you get a substantial number. Off duty police officers cost substantially more. It doesn't have to go on forever. However, this cost alone may be enough to justify much cheaper programs to address problems before they start. ALWAYS have a written contract spelling out exactly what contracted personnel are to do, and consider liability insurance and legal ramifications.
Security patrols MUST BE IRREGULAR AND UNPREDICTABLE. Don't ever say "the officer makes rounds at night on the hour," or "he's around on the week-ends" unless you just like throwing away money. Security personnel can only assist or coordinate with local police. The presence of somebody making a periodic round is what you need, not a bargain "rent-a-cop". Be sure residents know how to contact the officer and police. You could have an anonymous "tip-box" at the office for suggestions, complaints, or re-quests for their assistance, in addition to listing telephone numbers for the police, crime stoppers, etc.
Resident patrols are discussed later in this manual. They are much cheaper, and build a sense of community. It is common for dealers to shut down for a short time, to wait out the Security or Resident patrol, then when people quit, to return-so be committed to the long term if you use these ideas.
If you use a walkie-talkie system, be aware that dealers are monitoring your traffic.
Police Residency - i.e. letting police officers and other security personnel not otherwise residency eligible reside in dwelling units, with a rent reduction.
Volunteer Resident Patrols - The Virginia Crime Prevention Association, 4914 Radford Ave., Suite 306, Richmond, VA 23230, 804 359 8120, conducts a 3 day training of trainers course in this, and they also have a public domain handbook. The book The Winnable War, which covers this, is avail-able from 800 578 DISC. Some police department Community Relations divi-sions will also help train. Liability issues are less if the resident group organizes them, so managers would be better not to singlehandedly try to develop one of these. This is worth your time; a resident patrol may be the single most effective tool there is to get rid of drug dealers. A uniform such as a vest, hat, or T-shirt, is very helpful, too. It would be useful to let the group use office equipment to put out signs, hand-bills, and so forth. You may want to show your appreciation for their work with parties and similar things just for them.
Operation Weed and Seed - info from Office of Justice Programs, US Dept of Justice, 633 Indiana Ave. NW, WDC 20531 (202) 307-5966.
Operation Safe Home - cooperative crime control effort in public housing between HUD and the Department of Justice, in specific communities.
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design [CPTED]. A public domain handbook is also available from Sparta Corporation, 7313 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814 (301) 656-6600, and from wherever you got this manual.
Community Policing - info from National Criminal Justice Reference Service, POB 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000, 800 851 3420. Also, 800-578- DISC has a pamphlet on it. Block Watch programs are associated with this, usually.
You must have a strong working relationship with local police. Sometimes residents have relatives on the force - work your contacts. Remember that the police are NOT the "Orkin man" for crime. They will work WITH you in a cooperative effort. Maintain rapport by:
The book "Meet the Challenge: Law Enforcement Strategies and Practices to Eliminate Drugs in Public Housing", available from 800 578 DISC, goes into more detail.
Analyze your resident screening process. Look at your eviction policy, and lease and grievance procedures. Properties with drug-related problems often have let their policies slide. What do your residents do to assist in community maintenance? Problem properties rarely have proactive tenant involvement. Determine the following, getting as much information as possible from residents.
In neighborhoods where residents are hesitant to cooperate with management staff because of perceived dangers, surveys could be distributed with a self-addressed stamped envelope to provide anonymity. You could repeat the survey later as an evaluation tool. Once you answer these questions, you might also want to ask of residents, law enforcement officials, etc.:
Screening techniques must obviously be applied consistently to every applicant. Proactive screening techniques used in some areas include credit checks, criminal record, multiple previous landlord checks including: checks with the Land Records office to ensure that previous landlords actually own the building in question, and a confirmation that the landlord is listed in the phone book under the number cited, so your resident's "buddy" isn't the person you call; a check at the DMV for DUI/DWI problems, resident screening groups, mandatory preadmission housekeeping/budgeting/parenting classes, and home visits, photographs of residents to be sure who the person occupying a unit is, a check at your newspaper's name index for arrests, County Clerk for Police Records, credit reporting & previous rental history, employment, assets, and expenses, personal references, a tenant screening service, documentation submitted, and of course a careful review of application with applicant.
Lease additions might include requiring that residents supervise children when they are outside, and to ensure school attendance. Make certain you are within the law before you make any changes in policy. Cross-check wherever possible: ID & credit report with application, and so forth. ALWAYS call previous landlords and other references. The tenant's present landlord might give a glowing report just to get rid of the tenant, so check several previous landlords if possible. Where rental subsidy is involved, you must have third party verification of income.
With arrest data, conviction isn't absolutely necessarily, you may only need to show a pattern of behavior. Arrest patterns, however, may be discriminatory against classes of people - be sure you have a "body of evidence", not just an arrest, to exclude. You must have written tenant selection criteria, including which crimes are automatic grounds for rejection - such as convictions for crimes of violence. Fraud or forgery may also be a category, as should conviction for manufacture or distribution of illegal substances.
EVERYTHING YOU DO communicates side messages. If your resident rules have been xeroxed 30 times, and can barely be read, well, that tells the resident exactly how much you care. If the lease you get is unsigned, as we have seen in tenant files in troubled properties, well, that says a great deal about how much management cares. Impolite or rude staff are also a major negative advertisement.
Good managers of properties in tough areas are "warriors", as defined by Tamarack Song in his book " Journey to the Ancestral Self" [Station Hill Press, 1994], whose reputations do their work for them. Drug dealers avoid their properties, or at least don't stay long. The way management staff deal with residents and applicants is a major projection of image. There is never any reason to be disrespectful or unprofessional to an applicant or tenant. Property managers must be consistent, objective and fair in his/her dealings with everyone including alleged drug users and distributors. Tenant treatment either helps or hurts your efforts. Staff absolutely must be professional. You cannot expect tenant compliance with the lease if you are violating it.
Management must let residents know that drug dealing and/ or consumption will result in eviction by their ACTIONS, not their words. The relevant lease section should be pointed out.
Generally, site management cannot make decisions and therefore screen out applicants based solely on conditions such as alcoholism, drug abuse, handicap, AIDS, etc. Exclusion must be made based on demonstrated past anti-social or criminal behavior, carefully verified and documented from independent third parties. Police Officers say "a perp is a perp is a perp", except in NY City, where they say, "a poip is a poip is a poip". This means that perpetrators, and all people, are creatures of habit. A resident's future behavior will probably be an extension of past behavior.
Consider ALL information on the applicant. Get complete details, don't rely just on rumor. You'd want to favor an applicant if a written report from a parole officer/ social worker states that the applicant has been rehabilitated and is drug-free, or the applicant shows an awareness of his or her drug problem and has been receiving counseling or treatment. Remember, regardless of any other factors which affect an applicant's eligibility, if you can verify that they are currently involved with illegal drugs, generally you can deny them admission.
Lease orientation is a major projection of property image. Done properly, it can counteract some of the negative ideas residents may get later. You get what you ask for... be sure residents know what the community and management expect. On the enforcement side, you could cover lease rules and regulation enforcement, eviction of drug dealers, abusers, curfew enforcement and trespass. Of course you also have a firm, consistent written policy on drugs and criminal activity. On the proactive side, you need to be surveying, and aware of, resident interests. John Kretzmann's book Building Communities from the Inside Out has a form. A form is also provided later on in the manual.
Interviews are for eliciting complete and accurate information about the applicant and family members so that eligibility and suitability as residents can be determined. It is important to be consistent. Where appropriate, foreign language material should be available, and ideally an employee or translator as well. The United Way clearinghouse in your area should be able to direct you to lower cost translation services. It is important also to accommodate handicapped applicants. Interviewing is an important skill. Every step in the application process must project the image that you are an active manager, committed to providing law-abiding tenants with quality housing, and keeping out residents that participate in criminal activities. Applications are best completed on-site, in ink, to get the first thing said, and minimize potential "coaching".
Interview areas must as private a place as possible. Interruptions like eavesdroppers, noises, telephones, etc. "drain" the energy of the interview. How comfortable would you feel revealing your own confidential in-formation in an unprofessional environment?
Whoever conducts the interview is management, to the applicant. The rapport of the first 4 minutes will greatly affect the quality of the interview and information obtained. They're on your turf, seeking something from you-housing, and they're more likely to be more candid because they need housing. Explain up front what you want: tell them you're helping to make sure the application is complete, and that you need info on family members, income, and so forth.
TO: POLICE DEPARTMENT
____________________________________________ has applied for housing at our complex, _______________________________. Please list felony arrests and/ or convictions, and any related informa-tion, for all family members:
NAME: _________________________________________ SSN _________________________________________
NAME: _________________________________________ SSN _________________________________________
NAME: _________________________________________ SSN _________________________________________
Please return the original in the enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope, and keep a copy for your records. Thanks! I'm at (____) _______________ if you have any questions.
Signature: __________________________________________________________ Date __________________________
We/ I authorize the release of the above information to the housing manager.
Signatures of adult household members, Date
___________________________________________, _________________
___________________________________________, _________________
___________________________________________, _________________
___ We were unable to find any record of felony arrests and/ or convictions for the individuals listed above.
___ Our records indicate felony arrests and convictions, as follows:
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Authorized Police Official, Phone No., Date
___________________________________________________________,
_____________________, _____________________
Enclosure - Self-addressed stamped envelope
Before you ever do any eviction, spend time in Housing Court and understand how the judges there think. Find out how they like their paperwork prepared, what steps they like to see documented, and anything else that fits their views, long before you take any eviction to the court. Talk with other managers who have successfully evicted. Some states are "resident-friendly", others are definitely not. Connecticut is resident-friendly, and smarter managers will get payment agreements that add, say, $100-$ 200 to the monthly rent to repay arrearages. Legal Aid lawyers like this touch, judges like to see evidence that the property manager worked with the tenant before going to eviction, residents are impressed, and $500+ of eviction costs are saved. Most importantly, if eviction for non-payment becomes necessary, eviction is more easily accomplished - you already worked with the tenant. Evictions are of course better handled when you don't have to go to court. Use consistent, uniform criteria for evictions, and document reasons for leniency.
Familiarize yourself with the relevant laws in your locality-yes, have your lawyer xerox them out of the books, and actually read over them. How can you play a game if you don't know the rules? Keep a tickler list so that you precisely conform to the schedule for serving Notices to Quit, Summons, Complaints, and whatever else is cited in the statutes. You are considered a responsible professional by the court, and missing some critical step in eviction because you "had too much work to do", or just "forgot", may get your case thrown out. Residents talk, and if you flub 3-4 evictions, the bad ones will all know every single detail. The FIRST thing any legal aid lawyer looks for on a lease is a signature and date. You have no excuse whatsoever for having an unsigned lease for a tenant, which we have seen.
Generally, unless there are compelling reasons not to, we recommend that a new lease be signed each year, instead of just extended. That way any new sections are agreed to. We've heard of cases where a resident whose most recent signed lease was, say, 10 years old, was not held to its terms by the judge, because they couldn't be expected to remember what they signed 10 years ago. 10 signed leases with updated rules are much better than one ancient lease in the file. ANYONE occupying a unit, including employees, must have a signed lease in file.
There are generally 2 kinds of evictions:
The basic eviction maxim is "If it's not on paper, it doesn't exist." The National Center for Housing Management's RADAR course, on addressing drug problems, has more detail on this issue than we can go into here. Basically, record everything relevant in the unit log. Of course, you gave each incoming resident a thorough orientation to the lease, and perhaps an orientation packet, so they know your rules. Clearly stated, consistently enforced property rules can be a very useful tool. You will need a standard letter to advise tenants who violate rules. Resident Patrol reports should also be added. A written chronological list of lease violations and any criminal activity is much more impressive for police and judges than a vague "well, I think they're doing drugs in there", with no documentation.
Housing court is a CIVIL court, not a criminal court. The standards of evidence and proof are much less than what a criminal court requires. Whatever else you do, hire a competent attorney. We've heard of attorneys who forgot deadlines, or let important matters go. Your reputation in evictions will either work for you, making your job easy, or against you. Bring up only those items that you can prove to be true - be known for your good documentation, and the other side's lawyers may advise their clients to settle out of court.
If there are any delays, try to get an order that the tenant pay rent into the registry of the court while the case is pending. Otherwise, when the case is decided, the most you'll get is a payment agreement that may be violated again.
If a resident is in violation of your rules, act. If you fear they'll take revenge, or vandalize their unit, act-they will do what they do. There are few things more depressing for residents than tenants engaged in illegal activity that management won't bother to evict. That's not a role model you want around long.
Use temporary workers to clean out units after drug dealers leave, so dealers can't threaten your regular workers. Conspicuously get everything from the unit into a dumpster that day, and have it hauled before you leave. Be sure that you secure those units with plywood over all entrances at least; drug dealers or treasure seekers may enter to get any hidden contraband, or money.
Consider also that dealers are often not parties to the lease, they may sublet, or even be guests. Some courts want to see a drug-related conviction before evicting for that reason, though that is changing. Some courts also will not evict an entire family for one member's involvement, though managers report that stopping the problem often requires just that, or at least the threat of evicting the entire family. If the judge won't evict, and your residents are pounding on your door to get the dealer out, well, perhaps you could let residents know the judge's mailing address at court, and suggest that pouring out their hearts on what they face just might change the judge's mind. It's been done. Residents involved in criminal activities generally break other rules also, and it may be more effective to go for eviction on that basis.
You MUST understand the problems your residents face, first, before assembling resources to deal with them. Remember also that residents may see an entirely different set of needs and solutions than you do - ASK THEM FIRST. Some managers prefer to keep as much distance as possible between themselves and residents. Yet your job demands more interaction with residents than most jobs. You see the "big picture" perhaps more than any other service provider. HUD has allowed "Resident Services Coordinators" in housing to address this issue. Popular programs include especially youth programs and social events.
Being a property manager means you a human services worker - housing is a very basic service. Housing alone is probably more than enough to keep you busy. You cannot also be a good social worker, counselor, minister, or any of the hundreds of other social service professionals that may be needed to provide services and programs for your residents. Would you fix a resident's car just because it needed doing? Probably not. Why enter other roles for which you aren't prepared?
You do have to be prepared to intervene in a crisis. Why not get some training in crisis intervention and counseling techniques, just to be ready? That's not your main function-the key is to know what services are available in your community, and how to intelligently and efficiently refer people to them. You need to know people who deliver the services most frequently needed by your residents, and work with them to improve the way services are delivered. You can work with them to improve the level of service your residents receive.
If you don't have on-site services, you need a directory of agencies to refer people to. How detailed is your directory? It needn't be large, most areas have a United Way supported clearinghouse to direct people, if you have nothing else. You project a certain image, though, by knowing exactly to whom to refer a tenant with a certain issue, rather than just a clearinghouse. Your list might include drug centers, family counselors, self-help groups such as Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Families Anonymous, hotlines (responding to crises) and warm lines (which provide a non-emergency caring listener), discussion groups community organizations that provide healthy, alternatives to drug activities, social services, unemployment agency job training, clergy; and adult and adolescent alcohol and drug treatment facilities. If your property is under 500 units, why not partner/collaborate with neighboring properties to do what no one of you could do alone?
Your Rolodex should have at least: address, telephone number hours of availability (hours open, hours available for phone contact) transportation routes to the facility, kinds of services provided, how referrals can be made costs (if any) eligibility requirements, what paperwork (birth certificate, insurance forms, green card, drivers license, etc.) might be requested at the first appointment.
If you want to be proactive, you might want to talk to people like social service providers, job training providers, day care staff, recreation/ informational/ cultural/ sports program personnel, school staff, and law enforcement officials for additional information.
If you can, figure out:
You might want to form or join a drug task force or working group to work on your anti-drug goals.
When you have your information, meet with residents, at least resident leaders. Be sure you have identified what the residents consider their needs beforehand [which might vary a lot from your ideas], and show how community resources can feed their interests. Then ask what interest there is in creating programs to "fill the gaps". You might create something very advanced - and just what your residents most need. Hey, it's happened before.
You might want to file services information in the following categories:
On-site programs are almost always preferable. A Drug Rehab program, for example, that is not on the bus line, and 20 miles away, may as well not exist for residents who don't have cars. The next question is space. At the Shelter Hill complex in Mill Valley, CA, the residents built their own community room. Habitat for Humanity methods work. A vacant unit might be used, or nearby organizations like churches have space. You could perhaps even rent a large tent. Don't be shy about sharing services with nearby properties: the neighborhood you improve is your own.
We don't have space to cover economic development, "Job Creation" issues here. We highly recommend that you involve yourself in such efforts. Anything you do to help residents improve their incomes improves the development's income base, too. So what if they move out? If your prop-erty had a reputation for being a place where someone could get what they needed to put their lives back in order and get a job, and get launched into a better place, wouldn't it tend to attract ambitious people? You bet it would.
4-H clubs, Head Start programs, after school programs, Alcoholics Anony-mous, j. O. B. S. Program (afdc), junior league, big brother/ sister program, board of education, library [the most underused resource there is], boy/ girl scouts, boys/ girls club, meals on wheels, child care centers, neigh-borhood center, child care management program, child welfare department, neighbor houses/ planned parenthood, community action agencies, police de-partment, community colleges, drug counseling centers, department of rec-reation, red cross, employment service (state or local), family services, family support & education programs, social security, Future Farmers of America, state employment service, gamblers anonymous, united way, GED/ ESL education, Urban League, Veterans' Administration, Visiting Nurses Asso-ciation, religious organizations, Vista volunteers, and YMCA, Parents Without Partners, Inc.
Have someone assigned to listen and respond to resident's confidential information. Remember that you are the cutting edge, and that you may develop leaders, and that you shouldn't expect residents to take much action in the beginning. They've been "dissed", lied to, and ignored for a while, you have to get through their shells.
Start SMALL, with activities that have an immediate return. Everybody likes programs for kids. Community gatherings, poster contests, grounds beautification, are areas to start in. Get residents running these pro-grams from the beginning, so they "own" it. Think support of resident leaders, rather than doing it all yourself. Your informational postings should be easy to read, uncluttered, with basic information: Where/ When, What it is, the personal benefit [door prizes can help], and any cost. Newsletters must be fun to read, so never announce anything unpleasant, such as rent increases or problems, in them.
Seek out rapport builders-what about formally recognizing good grades? Perhaps with the students' pictures on your bulletin board? Perhaps a Quarterly award for nicest apartment? What about working together to make holiday celebrations happen? All of these communicate that you care about more than merely collecting the rent. In dealing with people, RAPPORT IS the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can have.
How much do you like going to meetings in your own community? How much do you like that long-winded guy who monopolizes your town meetings? Right. Why would your own residents like to go any more than you do? If you want people to show up, you must:
Motivators MUST include getting things done that residents can see and touch. Many residents have been lied to repeatedly and they expect you to do the same. The shock when they discover you follow through will help you gain more rapport.
Your meetings might follow this outline:
FIRST MEETING
Step 1 "Drain" resentments
Step 2 Pick controllable problem, get residents involved in solution
Step 3 Keep all meetings goal-oriented
At the first meeting, let residents "speak their minds", and vent out all their frustration with everything in their community - maintenance, management, and so on. You MUST drain them of this resentment, or you will find your efforts poisoned. Yes, you have to sit for 2-3 hours or more. Thing is, everyone else there is as tired as you are, and they'll feel just as drained as the people talking. That's the feeling you want. Once they're "emptied", you can start putting in positive images of what can be done. A small, focused group of 4 people can accomplish a great deal more than a group of 40-50 people who aren't focused, so don't worry if turnout is small.
If you can, pick the most important immediately controllable problem, and ask residents what can be done. BE SURE YOU INVOLVE RESIDENTS IN FINDING AND DOING THE SOLUTION. Schedule the next meeting. Make small demands on resident time. Emphasize that their time is important, so everyone must be brief, specific, organized, and goal-oriented.
SECOND MEETING
Step 4 Start from the positive/state the obvious to introduce solutions
Step 5 Recruit all interested persons
Step 6 set achievable goals [AND ACHIEVE THEM]
Step 7 Ask for what you want
Recall only the positive parts of the first meeting, and start from there. Start by stating the obvious, and following with a "fishing" question, like "we don't have enough for kids to do-what would have to happen for us to have something for them?", that many will agree with, before coming up with possible solutions.
Recruit the widest possible group of residents. Everyone must feel that they contribute to the community's well-being. Reach out to as many as possible to be sure you get the variety of skills you need, and the diverse energy you need to keep things going.
SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS. You can't solve the drug problem overnight, but you could work together to get the empty lot picked up. Pick your problems one at a time, and blow them out of the water before you move on to the next one, so your efforts "snowball". Do activities which get quick and effective results. Residents MUST see prompt results.
ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT FROM RESIDENTS, with the expectation that you'll get it. Let residents know you need their help, and that you will accept their ideas and thoughts.
THIRD MEETING
Speak about crime prevention as it relates to resident daily life. Touch their hearts, note the dangers their children face. Ask for volunteer building captains to start a block watch program. Later, perhaps you can help grow this into a Resident Patrol. Find out what resident interest there is, and be sure you bias all your efforts to feed those interests.
FOURTH MEETING
Formalize your steps, and be sure any necessary training occurs. Training could come from police departments, social service organizations, churches, colleges, business associations, etc. Training events should be short, and transfer relevant, important information. Use whatever you have: videos/films/handouts/slide shows, and other materials, whatever works. Teach and expect residents to report crimes. Always reinforce the positive, and notice people doing something right, or at least the right part of what they do.
Use success stories, the best sales tool there is. Volunteers want results for their investment of time - Make sure they get them.
Have leaders identify survey volunteers and block captains. Always seek their ideas on how to do anything better. Be sure volunteers feel their work is productive and needed. Work with an advisory board of resident leaders. Get their ideas/ suggestions on every aspect of program operations.
They could start Youth programs. Kids love responsibility. Integrate them into the community, and they won't be able to work against it. Communicate frequently -in person, by telephone, through messages. Put energy on anything residents personally can do to make their neighborhood a better place to live. Learn how to politely harass other local agencies, to improve responsiveness to resident concerns. Residents MUST see results. Get better response on concerns like potholes, better street lighting, police patrols, playgrounds, and trash collections.
Leaders are important, and so are the soldiers. Some communities just take more time to organize than others. High crime areas can take more time, due to fear and suspicion, and all the managers before you who lied through their teeth, and just didn't care. Encourage interested residents to work through familiar organizations they trust, such as churches or tenant groups. Resident crime awareness assumes residents care about their homes and are concerned about the safety of others. Make it happen.
RECRUITING
Find out who people already go to for help, who is already doing things in the community. Those are your leaders. You can advertise on a bulletin board, or locally, or with community groups which include residents. If you don't know what to do, ask an interested resident. Volunteers might include teens [a 16 and a 17 year old run the Computer Learning Center in Shelter Hill Apartments in Mill Valley, CA, at the time of writing.], housewives, retirees, disabled persons, crime victims, those with special talents. Successful community organizers take anybody they can get.
SCREENING
TIMESAVERS
TRAINING
OVERSIGHT
WHAT YOU CONCENTRATE ON GROWS
FEEDBACK
WHEN WORKING WITH RESIDENTS
When discussing local drug use with your residents, you may find denial. If residents are already organized, they are aware that there is a problem. If you are working to develop a new group, some people may not be comfortable in admitting to problems with drug abuse. Be confident, patient, and NEVER argue. Combative approaches only work with adversaries. You may scare them off. Let them listen, ask questions, and arrive at their own conclusions at their own pace.
YOU MUST gain their trust and rapport. NOTHING WORKS unless residents trust you to help them. One way to gain trust is to have residents to define the problem. A relationship consists of communication. You communicate what you are; if you don't respect tenants, you will communicate that no matter how well you lie. Work with people who are respected and trusted by the group, especially if English isn't their native language.
Get drug abuse prevention literature in any language necessary besides English. Remember, though, that passing out literature is passing out junk mail if you don't have solid, credible programs to back up the literature.
Build partnerships with each group in your community. If you promise to bring a needed law enforcement service to their community, make sure you deliver. ALWAYS DELIVER ON YOUR PROMISES, and if you can't, then DON'T make the promise.
Meet with group leaders on their territory - at community centers, in their units or community rooms, in senior citizen activity centers - where they feel "at home." DON'T LECTURE, LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN. Consider their ideas. Help them to understand that they can make a difference.
Include any resident special needs in your drug prevention effort. Make sure your community drug prevention network includes representation from these groups. They are important resources. Senior and disabled citizens are often ready to volunteer time. Young people can lend valuable enthusiasm and person-power. Everybody has gifts and strengths - weave their gifts into your effort. Involve all interested persons in planning. If residents invest time in their own program that feeds their interests, they will make sure it works.
Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Many managers say to us "I don't have time for all that." Of course you don't. If the manager is doing all that, there is a major problem. If you really feed resident interests, you'll have resident volunteers doing most of the work. Have the leader keep a notebook, a Franklin Quest or Covey Time Planner, a set of 3 x 5 cards, or a computerized file of your contacts and activities. KEEP IT UP TO DATE. Let your police department know that you are doing family-oriented drug prevention and want any information they might have. Have all drug prevention information routed to the leader[s].
It is so easy to make initial contacts with residents/ resident groups, and then not to keep up. You MUST follow up. Make sure you maintain resident enthusiasm in any way you can.
Block Watches are cheap and effective. Not only do they cut crime, they "connect" people in a larger mission, which helps you get to more proactive efforts and goals. Find out what contributes to crime - physical design of apartment buildings, traffic patterns, lack of jobs or recreational opportunities for children and teenagers, inadequate housing - and look for long-range solutions as well as immediate reductions in opportunities for crime to occur.
GETTING STARTED
Organize a resident meeting to discuss resident concerns and Watches. Give five to seven days notice and follow up by phone call the day before. Note that the Block Watch looks out for each other's property and families, and alerts police to any suspicious activities or a crime in progress, and that it is NOT auxiliary police or vigilantes.
When the idea sells, let the group select a coordinator and block cap-tains. The block captains recruit other neighbors. One block captain can coordinate all the blocks activities.
A neighborhood map with names, addresses, and phone numbers of all households should be prepared and distributed to members. Block captains should update this map, and orient newcomers to the neighborhood. Block captains ONLY ask neighbors to be observant and caring - and to report any suspicious activity or crimes immediately to the police. They are NOT police.
Basic Watch Activities
POINTERS
KEEP IT GOING
People like change and new things. Blend crime prevention into other community interests/ projects. True community gardens, for example, are protected by every member of the community.
Pins, T-shirts, hats, and so on can help. Consider a Fourth of July parade or a dinner to help neighbors get together. Promoting social interaction, and ending isolation may be the most effective weapon against crime.
OTHER IDEAS
MODEL NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHER'S INFORMATION GUIDE
You can reduce opportunities for crime, look out for your neighbors, and act as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement to improve the quality of life in your community.
Check security in your own home. Your police or sheriff's department may provide a free home security survey. Be sure there are good locks on exterior doors and windows and use them. Lock up when you leave, even if it's only for a few moments. Mark valuables. If you leave for a vacation, use timers on lights and radios to make your home appear lived-in and have a neighbor take in your mail and newspapers. Know your neighbors and their daily routines. Keep your block map near the telephone for emergencies. Be aware of things that contribute to crime like poor street lighting, abandoned cars, vacant lots littered with debris, and boarded-up buildings.
Watchers report anything suspicious to the police or sheriff's department. Look for:
MODEL INVITATION TO JOIN BLOCK WATCH
Dear Neighbor:
Let's work together to crime-proof our neighborhood. We are starting a Block Watch, a program that has helped other communities cut 2/ 3 of their crime. Watchers not only see crime go down, they also find a feeling of community. They can do other things to improve the community.
We can't do much separately about crime. The police need our "eyes". Hiding behind locked doors and ignoring our neighbors makes it easier for criminals to work in our neighborhood. Watchers do simple things like getting newspapers and mail of people on vacation. They keep an eye out for unusual activity like prowlers, and alerting police. They might escorting a frightened shut-in person to a community meeting.
Only we can help our neighborhood get what it needs. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting:
TIME _______________
PLACE _______________________________
PERSON WITH MORE INFO _______________
PHONE ________________
If you plan to use programs under a grant, think: PROCESS -- PERF