Crime rates climbing

What do you do when crime in the area begins to effect your current tenants? We have had a few break-ins in the past few months and the one resident that was home during the break-in is very worried and concerned for her safety as the perpetrator cut him or herself quite badly getting into the unit. The other tenants are beginning to talk about this issue and we already have a small vacancy issue, before this started occurring. We are working with the towns Police force for extra patrol, but so far no real leads on the perpetrator. Do you think I should send out a letter assuring tenants that we and the police are actively pursuing the matter. Or do I leave it alone? I have gotten various responses and have yet to find a good way to tell our residents we are staring to have a crime issue. The property is in a town with a higher amount of crime for the size of town, but this area has always been deemed safe. I am struggling with this specifically as I also live on property and if I got a letter stating we were having a crime issue I am not sure that I would want to continue to stay living here. Any advise would be helpful. Thank you

I would add a patrol service at night for a couple of weeks or until the crime slows down.

We are doing that... I am just wondering do I send out a letter stating that we are aware we are having issues with crime and we are working on it?

You may want to invite local police to have a "town hall meeting" at your property. This is usually reassuring to tenants & they can voice their concerns directly to the PD. Best of luck.

In the past I have had some really tough sites so I have way TOO much experience with this. Do the local police offer any multi-family safety programs? Here we have The Apartment Safety Coalition in which I have been a board member for years. This is a great resource for managers as we can track crime trends and help make our communities safer. If there isn't one in your location why not start one yourself. Ours started with just one manager and a community resource office. You could encourage your residents to start a neighborhood watch. I would advise against management starting this as it usually starts strong then peters out and you are left as the only active member.
As far as notifying your residents I would strongly suggest you do so. It has been my experience that residents prefer getting a notice from managements about criminal activity in their community. It lets them know that you are indeed away of the issue and you care enough to do something about it. As someone stated above, invite the local police to your community. I would hesitate to call it a "town hall meeting" as they tend to become more of a gripe session. I would advertise it as a safety awareness event. (As a side note never do gang awareness at a senior’s community. Learned this one the hard way, for weeks after anyone wearing a red shirt, bandana, etc was a gang member!! LOL)

We have a generic letter I could email you if you are interested.

Stephani,
That would be great if you could email the generic letter as I have written one, but having never dealt with this I am unsure as to the proper wording and all. You can email it to [email protected]
Thank you all for the assistance in this matter.

Crime Increase
The resource is the National Crime Prevention Council NCPC www.ncpc.org/topics/home-and-neighborhood-safety They have many free resources and information.
Your local Police or Sheriff may have a crime prevention officer who will come out and do a free survey.
Target Harden
How are they getting in?
If through windows you can make harder by pining the frame or using a charlie bar. Better lighting makes it undesirable as is trimming landscaping. Thorn bushes are a good deterrent.
Consider installing a couple of cameras that you can access through the internet. If you do install post signage about them prominently.

I like this program utilized by law enforcement and citizens down in Savannah, GA. Might be a good template for what you want to accomplish:

www.scmpd.org/cityweb/SCMPDorg.nsf/238f7...054ab9d?OpenDocument

Can I also have a copy of the letter? That woudl be wonderful! I too have one I can share. Email is [email protected]

Diana, I know your post is 2yrs old but I have a solution to your break in problems.

if you dont mind emailing me a copy as well that would be awesome!! thank you so much [email protected]