How to start a Neighborhood Crime Watch

Many of you have mentioned incidents in your neighborhood that could have been prevented if you had a Crime Watch group. Here is a simple step by step process on how to establish a Crime Watch Group in your neighborhood.

1. When a resident calls the Citizens Crime Watch office at 305-470-1670, a request for service is created listing to all their information and concerns so that it can be forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement department.
2. An initial meeting, which last about an hour, is scheduled for a weeknight at 7 p.m. — a good time for people to be home from work.
3. The meeting preferably is held in the neighborhood at someone's home. This way people can just walk to the meeting. This has been found across the country to be much more effective since the objective is to meet and get to know your neighbors. In some areas, this part may not be possible due to crime issues, so we try to find a safe location nearby for the meeting — a church, a clubhouse or in some cases, in the middle of the street. For those who live in apartment buildings, we have held meetings in parking lots too.
4. Once a meeting date has been established with the police officer and the host, a flier and brochure are provided to be distributed to all neighbors. English, Spanish and Haitian Creole versions are available. This is to inform everyone of the meeting; the brochure speaks to the implementation of a Neighborhood Crime Watch.
5. The night of the meeting, the police officer and someone from the Citizens Crime Watch office will attend. The officer provides information regarding crime trends, crime statistics, the police departments role in the community and what their department is doing to assist the community.
6. The officer also discusses alarm issues as well as how and when to call the police. The officer teaches residents what information is needed when calling police about a suspicious person or vehicle. The officer also answers questions.
7. The Citizens Crime Watch coordinator explains how to set up a phone chain — a collection of phone numbers, addresses and special needs or information pertinent to each home in the neighborhood. When the phone chain is completed, it is shared with all neighbors participating in the crime watch. 

Creating a phone chain is the most crucial part of Neighborhood Watch because it's how everyone stays in touch, as you witnessed from last week's article. Once the above is completed and the Neighborhood Watch is organized, the Citizens Crime Watch and Police Department then provide Crime Watch signs, house stickers and T-shirts. All of this is paid for with your tax dollars.

Implementing a Neighborhood Watch is not easy. It takes dedication and "sweat equity", but as the thousands already involved will say, it's the best thing that can happen to a neighborhood.

The above steps may differ for some municipalities that implement their own programs. If they don't have a Neighborhood Watch program, contact the Citizens Crime Watch office and they will be happy to supply you with some crime prevention materials.

Credit to Carmen Caldwell, executive director of Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade for article content. She may be contacted at 305-470-1670 or carmen@citizenscrimewatch.org.

Governing Documents

We are frequently asked by Boards which laws or rules govern Associations. Many Board Members are unaware that there is a hierarchy of what laws and rules govern their community.

In this hierarchy, federal and state laws always take priority. However, every community association also has governing documents that are meant to enhance the federal and state laws and are more specific about how the community is to be run.

Below is a list of governing documents most community associations have. The documents have been listed in order of the one with the most authority to the one with the least authority.

The primary document is often called a “Declaration” for Condominium Associations or “CC&Rs” (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions) for Homeowners Associations. The Declaration is kind of like an operating agreement for a business; it lists the details of the property included in the development and contains restrictions on use of the individual units or homes. It specifies what authority the association has and how it can or must do certain things, like maintain the common areas. It also defines the rights and obligations of the individual owners and the Association, like paying their maintenance fees.

The next document in the hierarchy of Association governance is the Bylaws. The Bylaws are intended to cover the procedural aspects of how an association is run. For instance, this document will include information on electing a Board of Directors, association meetings, voting procedures, budgeting procedures and guidelines, and much more. The Bylaws should be your property manager’s number one reference tool.

The Rules and Regulations are the next set of governing documents. Every Community Association should have a set of Rules and Regulations. Although some associations do not, we recommend that if your association does not have rules and regulations that the board should consider adopting a set of rules and regulations for living in your community. Rules and Regulations are usually adopted by the Board of Directors and are meant as a management tool to further clarify the rights and obligations of owners and their guests.

The final governing documents, which not every community association has is the Boards Policies and Resolutions. These are voted on by the Board of Directors and are meant to keep consistency among different Boards and management companies through the years. There may also be Amendments to your association’s Declaration or CC&Rs, which can change the terms of the original document.

It’s important to remember that the Declaration is above everything else besides the federal, state, or city laws, so any provisions in your Bylaws, Rules and Regulations, or other documents that conflict with the declaration are probably invalid.

Understanding the contents of your association’s governing documents is an important step towards being an informed Board Member. All unit owners should have received a copy of all governing documents for the association at the time of purchase. If you have misplaced them, please contact our office and request a copy for your records.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us.

Small Association's MUST still enforce Documents

Many Associations, both Condo's and HOA's, are considered small because of the number of homes and residents within the community. A small community typially consists of 50 or less units/homes. These "small" communities typically survive "paycheck to paycheck", maintain small reserves, and do not have much funds available in their budget to enforce their rules and regulations. Although, sometimes larger communities greater than 100 units/homes are finding themselves in the same situation.

Board of Directors must be reminded that they have a fiduciary responsibility to enforce the rules and regulations and to raise sufficient funds to do so whether by special assessments or whatever other authority the Board may have. A Board who fails to properly enforce their communities Rules and Regulations can be held accountable for failure to enforce the Associations bylaws and/or declaration no matter the size of the community associaiton. It's important to remember that no matter the size of a community, every community has Documents that must be followed and enforced, in addition to the Florida Statutes.

Do fines always REALLY Work??

In these tough economic times, Board Members are trying to do whatever they can to save money. While this mindset is obviously necessary, Boards need to be careful about being "penny wise and pound foolish." Clients often call us and ask what they can do to stop owners from violating the association's rules and regulations. This question is normally followed with an explanation that the Board cannot spend a lot of money on legal fees to enforce the rules. In other words, the Board asks that we get these people to comply with our rules but to do it cheaply. This brings up the fining process.

Imposing fines may be an inexpensive alternative to filing lawsuits or arbitration petitions, but does it actually help in unit owners correcting violations or deterring owners from violating the association's rules and regulations?

First, the association cannot even consider this option unless the authority to impose fines is found within the governing documents (usually it is), if you are not sure, ask your property manager. If the board indeed has the power to impose fines, it must establish a separate committee (usually known as a fining committee or enforcement committee). The committee must consist of at least 3 owners who are not board members, not related to board members and do not live in the same household as a board member (the law was recently amended). Then, before any fine may be imposed, the Board must provide the offending owner with reasonable advance notice (i.e. 14 days) of the date, time and location for the owner to appear before the committee. The offending owner must be given the opportunity to explain to the committee why a fine should not be levied. If the fining committee determines not to impose a fine, no fine may be imposed and the Board cannot overrule the fining committee and levy a fine where the committee voted not to impose a fine. Even if the committee votes to fine an offending owner, the fine cannot exceed $100.00 per day for a continuing violation and no fine in a condominium may exceed $1,000.00 for any single violation. Homeowners Associations may have the ability to levy fines in excess of $1,000.00.

So, do fines REALLY work? In both Condominiums and Homeowners Associations, no fine (if unpaid) may become a lien against the owner's unit. Therefore, if a unit owner fails to pay a fine, the association would need to file a claim for damages in small claims court. Also, the imposition and payment of fines does not necessarily mean compliance. A fine does not force the owner to comply. As you can imagine, many owners would gladly pay a $1,000.00 fine in order to keep their dog or continue with that unapproved tenant in their home. Therefore, while imposing fines may seem like an attractive and cost-effective solution, it does not guaranty an owner's compliance with the association's governing documents. If an owner refuses to abide by the rules, the Board's only realistic option may be to file a lawsuit and seek an injunction against the non-complying unit owner. If successful, the association is entitled to an award of its reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Then, if the owner still fails to comply, the judge may levy sanctions, hold the owner in contempt of court or ultimately issue a bench warrant for the owner's arrest.

Based on our experience, it is our recommendation that the Board always try issuing fines first. Then, if the non-complying unit owner fails to pay the fine and continues to be in violation, we recommend the Board seek legal action, at which point the associations' attorney will not only seek an injunction against the unit owner, but will also seek payment of all fines. Typically, this type of legal action usually takes at least 90 days.

So what do you think, does fining always REALLY work?