In New York City, more than 400 owners and managers have attended training seminars, hosted by the Real Estate Board of New York and led by the New York Police Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, on how to spot and prevent activity that could threaten buildings or their tenants.
Marolyn Davenport, REBNY’s senior vice president, says last summer’s blackout in the Northeast made some in the industry realize their buildings and staffs were unprepared for a major emergency.
But they’re learning about more than evacuation procedures.
Jay Harris, who wrote guidelines for apartment management to follow in response to the threat of terrorism for the National Multi Housing Council, notes that managers have become more diligent about locking down supplies like fertilizer–used to make the explosives in the Oklahoma City bombing–and noticing when tenants have items like dismantled kitchen timers in their units.
At Mid-America Communities’ 133 properties, an aggressive preventive maintenance program regularly sends staff into the units, notes Doug Clark, the Memphis-based firm’s director of risk management. Maintenance staff has been told when to flag an apartment so managers can alert police.
“They’re not in there to snoop or walk around; they’re in there to work,” notes Clark, whose staff notifies tenants in advance of their visit unless there’s a maintenance emergency. “But if you’ve got nothing but a mattress on the floor or a bunch of sleeping bags, that raises a red flag.”
Indeed, notes Davenport, New York City police warn apartment owners and managers about tenants who pay their rent in cash, have no furniture, fail to hook up phones, or move out in a hurry.
And architect Barbara Nadel, author of Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design (McGraw Hill, 2004), says some landlords are requiring student tenants to prove they are enrolled in classes–and are suspect of those who seem to never go to school.
Tom Toomey, president and CEO of United Dominion Realty Trust, tells of a tenant in an Atlanta apartment community who moved out abruptly, leaving behind a gas-powered clothes dryer whose vent had been tampered with.
The local police and officials from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security field office were at the complex within four hours. They determined there was no threat.
Still, Toomey requires staff to report “what [they] think looks weird” so risk managers can decide when to call the police and what to report to federal authorities. They also can compare the report to other incidents in the complex to determine whether it’s isolated.
“I don’t want to be the guy who said, ‘Those people lived in my community and this happened right under my nose,'” Toomey says.