Beacon Management Services Topic of the Day: Violence in a Community….Can You Stop it?

Watching the news seems to indicate that there is more violence, robberies and theft on the upswing.   It’s a reality we need to take seriously.

“I learned from hard and tragic experience in the last couple of years in Florida,” says the former lieutenant from the Broward County Sherriff’s Department and current vice president of learning and development at AlliedBarton Security Services in Conshohocken, Pa.  “We lost one of our security officers, who heroically attempted to stop a man subject to a protection from abuse order from coming onto the property in a community association in Florida.  He died trying to stop the man from coming onto the property to go after a resident. That’s real.

“You can talk to anybody in our business,” Cordivari adds. “If you read all the reports we’ve filed, on a fairly regular basis you can find stories of HOAs being notified of a
protection from abuse order or someone trying to access the property unlawfully.”

It’s impossible to ward off every potential instance of violence. But there are things your HOA can do to minimize the risk, starting with keeping an eye on your HOA’s employees.
“There are warning signs of workplace violence,” says Cordivari. “Keep an eye out for a need for increased supervision, boredom, tardiness, lack of attention to health and hygiene,
or substance abuse among employees.”

Cordivari says HOAs should also be alert for instances of domestic violence. “I think domestic violence would be the more realistic scenario in HOAs,” he says. “I live in a
condo development, but we’re in a completely open environment. I don’t know that the woman who runs our association knows chapter and verse of every divorce or every person trying to get away from a spouse.”

However, from the standpoint of security your HOA and manager should keep an eye out for certain warning signs. “Let’s say that as a neighbor I hear signs of a domestic violence
situation–people arguing excessively–that looks like it could turn violent,” says Cordivari. “If you have security in the building or on your property, as a security partner, that would be important for us to know.”

Staying vigilant and alert of your surroundings could make all the difference in preventing a crime from happening.

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