Ridding Apartment Communities of Recurring Crime

With communication as its core value, a small suburban police department in Kansas has built on the success of the groundbreaking Mesa, AZ, Crime Free Multi-Housing Program.

By MPO David Lewis-Jones, Guest Contributor

Master Police Officer David Lewis-Jones serves in the Crime Prevention Office of the Lenexa, KS, Police Department. He wrote this article especially for Catalyst.

One of the most successful and effective crime prevention programs ever established was the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program (CFMH) created in 1992 by Officer Tim Zehring of the Mesa, AZ, Police Department. This crime prevention program was aimed at keeping illegal activity out of rental apartment complexes, where it sometimes ran rampant. The Mesa Police Department had more than 700 officers at the time.

Three years later, the police department in Lenexa, KS, decided to address the same issue, taking the Mesa program and modifying it slightly to better suit Lenexa’s needs. Lenexa is a suburban city of 46,000 (with a work population of 100,000) in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The police department has 87 commissioned officers and 40 support civilians and has been led by Chief Ellen Hanson for the last 19 years, including those years when the Lenexa Police Department launched its drive to keep crime out of rental properties. Could a relatively small law enforcement agency match the success of the Mesa Police Department with its 700-plus sworn officers?

Like many suburban communities, the Lenexa Police Department was faced with a substantial number of aging apartment complexes that were beginning to attract undesirables and criminals. The department had to respond repeatedly to the same addresses involving the same people and knew it needed to address the problem at its root. When it heard of Mesa’s CFMH, it instantly thought it had strong possibilities for Lenexa.

The Lenexa Police Department named its program the Crime Resistant Community Partnership (CRCP). Its core value was “communication.” The department established the program’s goals and objectives, defined the program’s duties and responsibilities, and recruited interested officers.

The first duty of CRCP officers is to establish and maintain a professional working relationship with their assigned property managers and their employees. They accomplish this by making at least one visit per week to properties where recent criminal and police activity has taken place to discuss that happened with the property’s managers and staff.

The Crime Resistant Community Partnership is not just a “feel good” program. Of course the CRCP deals with law-abiding citizens, educating them about personal safety through newsletters and other means, but just as often CRCP officers track gang activity and work to rid their assigned properties of criminal elements. Lenexa CRCP properties do not allow convicted felons to live in them and the CRCP works with managers to thwart their attempts to move in when they try. By being proactive, the CRCP reduces a likely rise in calls for service and reduces the crime rate in the immediate neighborhood. The efforts of patrol officers, detectives, and CRCP officers lead to more than 200 evictions of problem multi-housing tenants every year.

The officers are proud of the level of trust they establish with their managers and property employees they nurture through the years. The CRCP holds two educational lunches for the managers and employees they work with each year. The managers and owners who actively participate in the program know that when they call their Crime Resistant Community Partnership officer, they will get immediate attention.

Anne Pearson of The Meadows Apartments says that the CRCP program is one of the best outreach relationships she has seen as a property manager. According to Pearson, “I know they are always there for me if I call. They are very proactive in the community, and they are always alert for anything going on in my community. These officers end up being like your family and even after they move on, we still keep in touch with them.”

Chief Hanson says that “Lenexa’s Crime Resistant Community Partnership has built significant relationships between the police department and the staff and residents of our apartment complexes and motels and those working at our storage facilities. These relationships have made it possible for us to be out in front of crime trends and problems, making these locations safe and desirable places to live, stay, and do business. The CRCP establishes real partnerships that improve our communities.”

Note from the editor: Crime Free Programs exist in nine topical areas, from mobile homes to businesses. The program has spread internationally to Canada, England, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and other countries.