It’s not unusual for one agency to stumble upon evidence that would interest another department in the local jurisdiction. Firefighters in Columbia, Pennsylvania recently found a marijuana growing operation when they responded to a fire. Police investigated and found plants growing and bags of weed. The police have to be careful before they enter a building though. Unless it’s an emergency (and the destruction of drugs is not usually considered to be one), the police cannot enter a building without consent from the owner or occupant or without a search warrant. Just because an inspector has a right to be on the premises, doesn’t mean personnel from another agency can join him or her. The information uncovered by an inspector can be communicated to the police and used as the basis for a criminal search warrant.
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.
