It’s no secret to apartment residents: security is often lacking in most apartment complexes and similar multi-family structures, and comprehensive security is almost non-existent.
This is not to say that apartment complex owners and managers don’t try. But security for large complexes, or those with smaller budgets, is incredibly challenging as most of them will readily agree. With multiple interior spaces in many buildings, a variety of outside grounds and structures, and more often than not, unsecured perimeters, these properties can be a security nightmare.
Protecting Your Apartment Renters is a High Liability Responsibility
Distressing things can happen at apartment complexes. Take, for example, the experience of one young couple renting a small, two-bedroom, second-story unit in Northern California.
They were awakened by sounds outside their bedroom window on an otherwise quiet night. Their window overlooked the swimming pool, and they had a clear view of the steps leading up to their front door and that of their next-door apartment neighbor, a single female.
They looked out their window and what they saw was a man working to remove the screen from their neighbor’s bedroom window.
Knowing that the on-site property manager also worked part-time as a security officer, they called him first before calling 911, thinking that he would be able to respond sooner. He did, but unfortunately, he simply yelled up at the perpetrator who then made a hasty escape and fled.
While the immediate threat was mitigated, the culprit got away unhindered and unidentified.
The complex, like many others in the neighborhood, had no security cameras on the premises, poor lighting, and no real on-site security presence. While a potential and possibly tragic crime had been averted, it could have easily turned out otherwise. What makes all of this so much more distressing to apartment complex owners is that many states are beginning to hold owners liable for crimes committed on their properties if their security measures are deemed inadequate.
When Failing to Adequately Protect Your Renters Can be Costly
A legal concept known as “negligent security” is a type of premises liability that involves civil restitution to tenants for violent acts and crimes that occur on a property. The types of criminal acts that occur due to negligent security include robbery, battery or assault, and sex crimes.
As one legal firm notes, “Owners of apartment complexes owe their tenants (and visitors) a duty of care that includes taking reasonable measures to protect tenants from harm that third parties cause. If an apartment complex did not take reasonable measures to ensure your safety and you were the victim of an assault, the complex may be liable.”
Or, as another law firm put it, “When you are a victim of a crime that occurs on a property that you are renting, can you hold the property owner liable? The answer is yes. If an apartment complex or another property owner does not provide adequate security for their tenants, they could be held liable for crimes that occur.”
This legal environment puts apartment complex owners at a serious disadvantage when one considers that even multiple cameras and on-site security personnel cannot prevent every criminal act that might take place. And the larger the complex, the more ‘complex’ the security challenge.
What is needed is a security monitoring system that is comprehensive in its visual coverage, able to engage or interact with threats, and that cannot be assaulted, threatened, or simply ignored.
Unfortunately, even an extensive network of traditional video surveillance cameras and a 24/7 uniformed security presence cannot achieve all of those requirements. But the good news is that such a security solution exists. It is known as smart live remote video monitoring.
Protect Your Apartment Renters Better with Smart Live Remote Video Monitoring
It is quite likely that your apartment complex is equipped with a video surveillance system. However, the standard video camera, no matter how high quality, can merely record criminal acts such as trespassing, theft, or vandalism, as they occur.
In other words, they can do nothing to actively prevent these security threats. However, with the integration of Blue Eye’s AI software technology, we can transform your security cameras into detection and breach sensors. Our solution then allows your system to analyze and even anticipate threats resulting in a real-time, interactive surveillance system that uses advanced security and surveillance technology that turns your video camera network into a smart security system.
Blue Eye’s advanced, managed service platform provides state-of-the-art technology and performance that will provide your multifamily property with a highly enhanced security network. When a criminal threat is detected at your apartment complex, an alarm is immediately sent to our command center. This is where our highly trained Video Surveillance Technicians (VSTs) will respond to the threat in real-time by assessing the situation and taking appropriate actions.
Those actions can range from issuing a verbal warning broadcast over a loudspeaker system to calling the police or your contracted security service. In fact, we have found that using the direct audio system actually stops incidents almost 99 percent of the time.
This means that there is rarely a need to dispatch the police. With Blue Eyes Ami provides live remote video monitoring, our VSTs can safely maintain video monitoring from a secure environment, with the ability to dispatch security or police to the property, if needed. By integrating both artificial and human intelligence, our approach allows for an effective security solution, all while utilizing the cameras you already have installed at your property.
If you would like to learn more about our unique approach to providing apartment complex security, call us at 855.258.3662 or email us at [email protected] and let us design an effective solution for your apartment complex.
Thank you for sharing this article. As an alternative, you may also want to consider installing a security gate. Security is provided by controlling who can access the premises. An access control system — the most common type is a gate that can only be opened and closed by people with the authority to do so.