Check Out Your Apartment
Does Your —
- Entry door have a deadbolt lock and peephole?
- Sliding glass door have a wooden rod in the track so it can’t be opened and pins in the overhead frame so it can’t be lifted out?
- Landlord or building manager tightly control all keys?
For extra security, leave a radio playing or a light on while you are gone. Always tell neighbors and the building manager when you leave for a business trip or vacation.
Check Out Your Building
- Is there some kind of control over who enters and leaves the building?
- Are walkways, entrances, parking areas, elevators, hallways, stairways, laundry rooms, and storage areas well-lighted, 24 hours a day?
- Are fire stairs locked from the stairwell side about the ground floor, so you can exit but no one can enter?
- Are mailboxes in a well-traveled, well-lighted area and do they have good locks?
- Are things well maintained–are burnt-out lights fixed properly, shrubs trimmed, trash and snow removed?
Check Out the Neighbors
- Get to know your neighbors. Join or organize an Apartment Watch group so neighbors can look out for and help each other.
- If you live in a large building or complex, think about a tenant patrol that watches for crime around the building, provides escort services for the elderly and handicapped, and monitors coming and going in the lobby.
- Work with landlords to sponsor social events for tenants–a Sunday breakfast, a picnic, a Halloween Party.
- Look beyond problems to root causes–does your building need a better playground, a social evening for teens, a tenant association, need landscaping, a basketball hoop?
- Work with the landlord for changes that make everyone proud of where they live.
