LANDLORDS TAUGHT TO LOCK OUT CRIME

Police Advise Steps For Crime-Free Multi-Housing

EDMONTON - There will never be enough police officers to deal with
every landlord-tenant dispute in town, Const. Dale Brenneis says.

But the Edmonton police officer has a three-step program to keep
tenants on meth from even getting in the door -- long before they
start partying loudly, urinating in hallways or bringing home
sex-trade workers.

Brenneis co-ordinates the police service's crime-free multi-housing
program, designed to help property managers make good decisions about
keeping apartment and condo buildings safe.

This week he will be among 520 delegates from around the world
gathering in Banff for a three-day crime reduction conference. On
Thursday, he will present his program's principles as part of a
session on making subsidized housing safe.

"It teaches best practices (for) rental properties on how to attract
the better tenants," he says. "Once you join my program, you have a
police contact all the time. You have me."

A two-day session, to start, introduces property owners to gang and
drug investigators so they learn to spot marijuana grow operations
and residents clearly tied to organized crime.

Then, Brenneis goes to the properties and evaluates site safety --
whether dead-bolt locks work properly or if there is adequate
lighting inside and outside a building. If the property meets every
safety standard, it becomes a crime-free zone. At that point,
landlords can add an element to their leases which allows them to
learn about a would-be tenant's criminal activities -- or throw the
renter out for bringing crime home.

Eloise Cameron manages LeJardin Apartments on 110th Street and 98th
Avenue. She joined the program when it started six years ago, not
because she was seeing much crime but because she wanted to keep it that way.

"It works great," she says. "And it would work for anybody as long as
they're willing to put in the time, spend the money and educate the tenants."

For example, Cameron says, tenants get to know each other better
through the program, which allows them to recognize who to let inside
the building and who to leave outside.

"If it was your own house in the suburbs, you wouldn't let just
anyone into the front door."

Since 2001, the Edmonton police service has certified 96 buildings as
crime-free zones. By the end of the year, Brenneis hopes all 130
Capital Region Housing sites will be certified. The starting cost of
the program is $150 for the initial course.

"Just because you're a low-income person doesn't mean you have to
live around crime," Brenneis says.

The Banff crime conference is being organized for the first time by
Alberta's solicitor general's department. Co-chairman Curtis Clarke
says academics, police officers and community organizers from across
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and New
Zealand are expected to participate.

"It's quite a remarkable opportunity to bring so many people together
to share their ideas," he says.