ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando apartment managers are trying to cut back on crime by keeping convicted felons out. There was a class held Tuesday at the Orlando Police Department where managers learned how a special new lease would help keep criminals from moving in.
Police stated last year that crime in some apartment complexes was so bad they were working on a plan to train apartment managers to keep criminals out of their complexes. Managers and owners of 70 local apartment complexes crowded the Orlando police auditorium Tuesday for the first step in a crime-free, multi-housing initiative.
"It provides us the freedom to hold the residents accountable," said Joe Pietzyk, The Palms Apartments.
The program creates a partnership between police, property managers and people living in the complex. Participating complexes must meet certain safety requirements, such as lighting and door locks, to become certified. Then they gain access to a nationwide database cataloging trouble tenants and crime statistics.
Across the country, crime in apartment communities has jumped. Willow Bend is one of them. In the last six months of 2009, more than 350 calls came in to police, but the property company couldn't do anything to remove the trouble makers.
It's the same story at the Metro Place Apartments and the Bellagio, and the Palms Apartments was the site of a triple homicide in August of 2008.
"Bottom line, we're here to make the neighborhood safer," Pietzyk said.
The program calls for updated leases that allow eviction if a tenant or guest breaks the law. Once a tenant is kicked out of a safe community, they are never allowed into another, no matter where it may be.
Jacksonville has the same program. They've seen an almost 80 percent drop in crime at participating complexes.
"It starts changes in the community and you aren't seeing the random gunshots, the drug dealing, all that kind of stuff going on," said Captain Mark bowman, Jacksonville Safe Housing Project.
Orlando police will train 25 officers Wednesday for the task force. They'll be the ones inspecting properties to make sure safety is up to certification standards and responding to calls. The timing of the program depends on how quickly those safety improvements can be made.