LANDLORDS HELD RESPONSIBLE BY POLICE FOR HOUSES WITH ONGOING CRIMINAL ACTS

If you want to send a message that you're getting tough on crime, get
people where they live.

That's the aim of a Fond du Lac Police Department abatement program that
began last year to focus on so-called gang houses.

"If we have a drug or gang or nuisance house, we let the landlord know,"
said Community Services Officer Andy Gill. "Within five days, they have to
react."

Landlords are told that if police are called back to the residence for the
same type of activity, then within five days the landlord either has to
start the eviction process or let the tenant know that the landlord is
going to receive a citation if the activity continues.

By the time he contacts a landlord, Gill says, the people in the home and
the landlord have been given several opportunities to correct the problem.

"This is kind of a last resort," he said. "One contact with police isn't
going to do it (draw in Gill's involvement)."

The abatement program is guided by State Statutes. Several communities have
adopted it, including Oshkosh, Appleton, Madison and Milwaukee.

"It helps us work with landlords," said Capt. Kevin Lemke. "Sometimes they
don't realize they have a problem. They cooperate because they have an
investment in their property."

The department has always tried to work with landlords, teaching them how
to evict people legally and peacefully, he said.

"Anytime the police can keep us informed of issues going on at a property,
it's a good thing," said Gary Schwefel, president of the Fond du Lac Area
Apartment Association. "Right now, if there are a number of calls to a
unit, we are not necessarily aware of that. If that can happen more and
better, that would be great."

Nuisance houses are defined as rental properties where police have been
called for continual problems such as loud noise, underage drinking parties
and loitering, Gill said.

It's easier to prove a drug house than a nuisance house because of the
direct criminal activity, he said.

Gill has never cited a landlord, although he has come "very close" on two
occasions.

"Usually, when the landlords see they are going to receive a citation," he
said, "that's usually the point where they say enough is enough."

In August, Gill issued 23 letters to landlords regarding nuisance
properties. In September, he issued about 15 and another 10 in October.

After the August letters were sent, four landlords contacted Gill before he
had a chance to contact them because they wanted to know what they had to
do to take care of the problem.

Many of the abatements Gill handles occur in the Military Road and Forest
Avenue neighborhood, he said, where about 75 percent of the homes are
rental properties. Through the city inspector's office, Gill also has had
38 abandoned vehicles towed from the neighborhood.

Gill said he enjoys the work because he sees the benefits.

"I think it's a way of cleaning up neighborhoods very effectively," he said.

A Milwaukee study showed that people evicted from the nuisance homes may
move to another neighborhood, but they often cease the activity that got
them evicted in the first place because they don't want to get thrown out
again, he said.