My first position after law school was as an assistant state’s attorney where my entire training revolved around criminal law enforcement. When I left the State’s Attorney’s office, I began prosecuting municipal ordinances which included building codes. At first I just saw them as minor cases to process but after awhile I began to see the connection between enforcing building codes and keeping crime rates low, especially in apartment complexes. Fixing lights in a parking lot reduced drug dealing on a premises better than a team of police officers. Forcing landlords to spend money on repairs made them more motivated to crack down on tenants who were trashing a building. Over the years I’ve noticed a strong correlation between vigorous code enforcement and a reduction in police calls. Just getting junk vehicles towed from a parking lot makes the tenants happier with their surroundings. Unfortunately, sometimes those in leadership in law enforcement fail to see the connection and are reluctant to spend resources assisting building code departments. This is shortsighted. The code enforcement department can be a great resource for the police department and vice versa. Police personnel get into residences all of the time on police calls and can be the eyes of the code department. Code enforcement inspectors who are properly trained may see things inside a building that may be beneficial for the police department. The local jurisdictions that recognize this relationship are the ones most successful in reducing crime in a neighborhood. Now there is even scientific evidence for the “broken windows” theory, conducted by a university in the Netherlands. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27825380/from/ET/#story Continued Blighted conditions have an effect on the behavior of the people in those communities. Code enforcement is an integral component of any effort to control and contain crime.Somebody should tell Jake Slater.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Amen
I just saw this comment on the SeminoleHeightsBlog:
Mirabile Dictu
Carolyn here.
In September I was getting ready to leave for work about 8 AM on a Saturday when I noticed several cars parking in front of 6003. About eight youngish men got out, about half wearing similar T shirts. There was a middle aged man who seemed to be in charge, so I walked up to him and asked what was going on. He told me they all belonged to a volunteer group and that they were going to haul all the multitudinous piles of trash out of the yard at 6003 and mow the lawn. I told him I would be home by 1:30 PM and was looking forward to seeing the progress. He laughed and said they would be done by noon.
When I came home there was a ten foot long pile of trash by the street and the lawn had been mowed. I expected to be looking at that pile for months but was delighted when the city truck came by and picked the entire thing up!
A few days later I managed to get James by himself. I told him he either used my pressure washer to clean the green and black scum off his house and shed or I would do it without his permission. I figured trespass to pressure wash would not land me in jail. He said he would. I next told him that I wanted him to pick two colors for his house and a neighbor would come over on Sunday and paint his house. I told him I was buying the paint and that I did not want his house (his excuse when we had tried to buy him paint before). He agreed! I had paint samples which I promptly took over to him. He picked gray for the house with white trim. True to his word, he cleaned the house the next day. I bought the paint for about $300.00 and our neighbor Brian painted the house the next Sunday. Steve and Kate, my neighbors on the corner, insisted in paying for half the paint. I gave that to Brian who had given up his one day with his kids to remove that eyesore for me.
Before and after:
The next week James began to trim out the house and shed. He still had the filthy, once-white, interior door with the large hole in it facing the street. I told him to get in his truck and we went out to Habitat and I bought him a metal exterior door. He hung it when we got back. He wanted to paint the door white and I told him not to use something like a burgundy. Was willing to go buy paint but he found some in his tool shed.
I have been over in his yard several times to spray weeds and pick up beer bottles and cigarette packs. He has mowed the front and the back twice. The south section is past my knees but I am ignoring it.
He has not finished painting the trim on the north or east windows and has made no repairs. The fence continues to lean and yaw. He props it up with miscellaneous pieces of wood and rock.
There are only three dogs now-one of them a pit-bull. They are keeping him contained.
I don't know what produced this change of heart but I will enjoy it while it lasts. For sure, no thanks to Code NonEnforcement.
In September I was getting ready to leave for work about 8 AM on a Saturday when I noticed several cars parking in front of 6003. About eight youngish men got out, about half wearing similar T shirts. There was a middle aged man who seemed to be in charge, so I walked up to him and asked what was going on. He told me they all belonged to a volunteer group and that they were going to haul all the multitudinous piles of trash out of the yard at 6003 and mow the lawn. I told him I would be home by 1:30 PM and was looking forward to seeing the progress. He laughed and said they would be done by noon.
When I came home there was a ten foot long pile of trash by the street and the lawn had been mowed. I expected to be looking at that pile for months but was delighted when the city truck came by and picked the entire thing up!
A few days later I managed to get James by himself. I told him he either used my pressure washer to clean the green and black scum off his house and shed or I would do it without his permission. I figured trespass to pressure wash would not land me in jail. He said he would. I next told him that I wanted him to pick two colors for his house and a neighbor would come over on Sunday and paint his house. I told him I was buying the paint and that I did not want his house (his excuse when we had tried to buy him paint before). He agreed! I had paint samples which I promptly took over to him. He picked gray for the house with white trim. True to his word, he cleaned the house the next day. I bought the paint for about $300.00 and our neighbor Brian painted the house the next Sunday. Steve and Kate, my neighbors on the corner, insisted in paying for half the paint. I gave that to Brian who had given up his one day with his kids to remove that eyesore for me.
Before and after:
The next week James began to trim out the house and shed. He still had the filthy, once-white, interior door with the large hole in it facing the street. I told him to get in his truck and we went out to Habitat and I bought him a metal exterior door. He hung it when we got back. He wanted to paint the door white and I told him not to use something like a burgundy. Was willing to go buy paint but he found some in his tool shed.
I have been over in his yard several times to spray weeds and pick up beer bottles and cigarette packs. He has mowed the front and the back twice. The south section is past my knees but I am ignoring it.
He has not finished painting the trim on the north or east windows and has made no repairs. The fence continues to lean and yaw. He props it up with miscellaneous pieces of wood and rock.
There are only three dogs now-one of them a pit-bull. They are keeping him contained.
I don't know what produced this change of heart but I will enjoy it while it lasts. For sure, no thanks to Code NonEnforcement.
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