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City ordinances regulating apartments may generate new business and an extra benefit for private
security
By Carlos A. Peniche
25-year double board certified litigation attorney
It is no secret that since 9/11 national, state and local governments have recognized the need to rely upon, to an increased extent, private security to assist governments in making up for shortfalls in governmental resources related to security. An example of the ways governmental units are trying to place more responsibility upon the private sector to address security issues can be found in city of Houston Ordinance No. 2006-1124, enacted Nov. 8, 2006.
The ordinance requires all apartments within the city of Houston containing at least 10 units to register with the city. The city has appointed a police official (the police chief or his designate) to administer the ordinance. The fundamental concept underlying the ordinance involves determining the per capita crime rate for each registered apartment community and comparing it with the total per capita crime rate for all registered apartment communities in the city. Once an individual apartment community has sufficient per capita crime to cross a �crime risk threshold,� that community is subject to an inspection by a police officer selected by the police department.
The apartment community will be charged $400 for the inspection and the police official will issue a remedial action plan based upon the inspecting officer�s recommendations. The ordinance specifically contemplates that the apartment community could be required to hire either a licensed private security contractor or off-duty certified peace officers as part of the remedial measures the inspecting officer can order as a result of the inspection.
The registration information required includes the identification and addresses of the owner and any designated agent for the owner, the name and address of any manager and the number of apartment units categorized by the number of bedrooms per apartment unit. Under the ordinance, the police official has promulgated a manual to specify registration procedures, how the per capita crime rate and crime risk thresholds are to be calculated, as well as other pertinent matters. From the copy of the official manual I have received, the police official will determine the census of the apartments by assuming two adults per bedroom per unit and will also reduce that calculation by the apartment community�s occupancy rate.
Using only calls for service which result in an offense report for offenses designated �founded� over the last 12-month period, the per capita crime rate will be determined for both the individual community and all registered communities having at least one eligible crime.
All registration of existing apartments should have been completed by March 8 (four months after passage of the ordinance). Presumably, the first full 12-month period won�t come before March or April 2008 so the preliminary effects of this ordinance remains to be seen.
The city of Dallas was at one time contemplating enacting an ordinance which would, among other things, require certain locations such as apartments and nightclubs, deemed to have had excessive calls for service, to hire off-duty peace officers for their locations.
The Dallas area ASSIST membership opposed that proposal and, fortunately, it was not enacted. If the Houston apartment ordinance is administered fairly so that apartments required to hire security are not pressured to use only off-duty peace officers, then it could very well result in increased business opportunities for private security contractors.
The Houston ordinance has the additional benefit of forcing apartments to divulge the identity of the owner of each apartment complex, which should be of assistance when security contractors are forced to sue apartments for failure to pay for services. In many instances, security is hired by a management company who, by the wording of the contract, is not liable for payment to the security contractor. Instead, the contractor is forced to try to collect from the owner, who oftentimes remains undisclosed.
For the reasons stated above, ASSIST members and other security contractors in the other significant metropolitan areas of Texas, such as Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, Austin and the Valley, may benefit by advocating that the cities in their area adopt the same type of ordinance. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Houston ordinance,
feel free to contact me.
Carlos Peniche is a 25-year double board certified (Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization) litigation attorney who has represented security guard contractors, private investigators, alarm companies and other security professionals in both litigation and transactional matters. He is a partner with Kroger, Myers, Frisby & Hirsch (Houston, Texas). He may be contacted at 713-961-7952, ext.142, by fax at 713-961-7953 or by e-mail at
[email protected]. The firm�s website is
www.krogerlaw.com.
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