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January 2018 — Property Management Quarterly — Page 23
A lthough I am new to com-
mercial real estate, I am not
new to the numerous ways
criminals try to victimize
people. I have 19 years in law
enforcement experience, and I would
like to share some information to
protect yourself as well as your prop-
erties, tenants and employees. Most
crimes are crimes of opportunity
and the criminals are always on the
prowl. Hopefully this article will help
to educate you and allow you to pass
on this information to your employ-
ees as well as to your tenants and
their customers.
One of the best things you can do is
to always be aware of your surround-
ings. Simply look around when you
walk out of your office. Be aware as
you are getting into and out of your
car. Simply acknowledging the people
around you often can deter a crimi-
nal from committing a crime.
We all work in areas that make it
easy for criminals to steal items out
of our cars. You may park your car
in an industrial park, business park,
office building or retail center. The
common thing for most of us is that
we are parking our cars in open park-
ing lots without security. This makes
it easy for criminals
to walk through
the parking lot and
look in cars and try
the door handles.
Most of the time,
the cars that are
broken into are the
ones in which the
owner forgot to lock
the door.
You can do a few
things to deter
someone from
breaking into your
car. The first thing
is to always double check that your
car is locked. If you have an alarm,
make sure that you set it. Next, don’t
leave any valuable items in your car.
If for some reason you do have to
leave something valuable in your car,
make sure you hide it the best you
can. If a criminal cannot see it, he
is less likely to break into your car.
But remember, criminals spend a
lot of time doing what they do, so
when they see a jacket or blanket
with a bulge under it, they know
you are hiding something valuable.
Try to place valuables in your trunk
or, if you have an SUV, pull the back
cover over them.
A new trend for thieves is to fol-
low delivery service trucks and steal
packages once they are delivered. We
know that the property manager is
not always at the office when pack-
ages are delivered. One way to com-
bat that is by requiring a signature so
deliveries are not left sitting out for
someone to steal. You can ask neigh-
boring tenants and businesses if they
would be willing to accept deliveries
for you.
Fraudulent scams are the fastest
growing crime. The important thing
to remember is that if it is too good
to be true, it most likely is a scam.
The basis of a scam is someone try-
ing to trick you into thinking you
are in trouble or in harm’s way, that
you owe money or you’re given an
offer you can’t refuse.
On the business side of property
management, be aware that scam-
mers may try to mimic your com-
pany to scam your customers or ten-
ants. Make sure to educate your ten-
ants on how you will contact them
and how you will ask for payment
from them, so they will not fall prey.
Finally, one of the best things you
can do is be a good witness. If you
see anything suspicious, do not
assume someone else will report it.
Get a good description of the person.
Also, a license plate number gives a
great advantage to law enforcement.
The more information you can give
to the police, the better. Of course,
the key is reporting information to
law enforcement. I hope this infor-
mation has been helpful.▲
Management
Michael
Pacheco
Property manager,
Sessions Group
LLC, Denver
Help discourage theft from tenants' vehicles in parking garages by reminding individuals to
lock their doors, stay alert and remove or hide valuables.
Make sure to educate your tenants on how
you will contact them and how you will ask for
payment from them, so they will not fall prey.