Ames joins effort to promote crime-free housing

In the wake of a surge in crime over the last year, including a murder-suicide at an area Casey’s General Store, Ames is joining several Iowa cities in instituting a nationally acclaimed program that aims to reduce crime and increase safety at rental properties.

The Casey's General Store on Lincoln Way in Ames where a man shot and killed the clerk on July 27.

Proponents say the Iowa Crime Free Multi-Housing Program creates a partnership between police officers and rental property managers to help keep a lid on illegal activities. But some fear it will lead to discrimination against those with checkered pasts or will simply create pockets of crime in properties or communities that don’t participate.

Concerns about discrimination not withstanding, police departments in cities like Des Moines, Dubuque and Ames are joining West Des Moines, which adopted the program in 1998, with the hopes that results seen elsewhere will translate to their communities.

“If we can get just a fraction of the results that other cities have gotten when they introduced this program, it will be a tremendous success,” said Harry Samms, community resource officer for the Ames Police Department.

Ames police have been looking at implementing the program for several years, Samms said, but the dramatic increase in criminal activity last fall created additional interest in such a program. According to police and news reports, crime surged in Ames in mid-to-late 2007, and the majority of those involved with the crimes had ties to rental or Section 8 property within the city. Two murders within a month of each other, an armed carjacking and a number of other violent crimes swept the city.

A communitywide meeting was called and an Inclusive Community Task Force was started to tamp down rumors that were running rampant through the city.

One of the suggestions that came from those meetings and the task force’s work was that there needed to be better communication between law enforcement and citizens.

“Communication really is the key,” said Sgt. Tom Shelton, coordinator of the crime-free housing program in Ames.

The tensions in the community were rekindled late last month when a man shot and killed a Casey’s General Store clerk before shooting at a police officer, stealing a squad car and leading police on a 20-minute chase through downtown Nevada and rural Story County.

The chase ended when the man veered off the road and apparently shot and killed himself, police said.

Samms said all the rumor and innuendo that circulated the community during the crime surge could have been avoided with better communication.

The crime-free housing program was originally introduced in the Mesa, Ariz., Police Department in 1992. The International Crime Free Multi-Housing Program has spread to nearly 2,000 cities in 44 states, five Canadian provinces, Mexico, England, Finland, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Puerto Rico.

According to the Iowa Crime Free Multi-Housing Program handbook, the premise of the program is “keeping illegal activity out of rental property.”

The program has three phases.

Phase 1 is an eight-hour training program in which property managers establish rapport with officers and learn about the civil nature of rental communities.

A certificate is awarded after completing the first stage. Samms said Ames police will be working with landlords to clarify lease agreements in regards to criminal background checking.

“We work together to tighten up their leases, so that they do criminal backgrounds, so they don’t allow people with drug histories, people with violent crime histories, to live there,” Samms said. “Criminal histories along with the better communications has been proven to reduce the crime rates significantly.”

Samms points to Kansas City, which instituted the program several years ago and saw a 60 percent drop in police calls to rental properties.

“Ames has 11,000 rental units in a town of 50,000 people,” he said. “If we could get calls to drop by just 10 percent, that would be fantastic.”

Phase 2 involves crime prevention through environmental design. Recommendations include the addition of deadbolts on all entry doors, viewfinders in doors, anti-lift/sliding devices on sliding doors and windows, strike plates, adequate lighting and proper trimming of bushes. These measures have been proven to reduce crime in other areas of the country, Samms said.

Property owners are required to make the appropriate changes themselves, which could be seen as a monetary hurdle to some owners, but in the long run will make the properties more desirable to renters, Shelton said.

The Ames Police Department.

The third phase, called full certification, entitles owners to post a sign outside of their properties stating that the residence is a part of the Crime-Free Housing Program. A social gathering is held by the property managers, bringing officers and owners together to explain the program to tenants.

The core of the program is not discrimination in housing, Shelton said, but property owners under the program can set higher standards of whom they rent to.

“At the training, we will have a lawyer there to help property owners understand how the law works,” Shelton said. “There is a big chunk of training on discrimination and how to avoid violating Fair Housing laws.”

The Iowa Fair Housing Guide, written by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, does not address the denial of leases to those with criminal backgrounds.

But won’t criminals simply go to the properties which chose not to participate, or, migrate to other municipalities outside the program’s jurisdiction?

“We hope to get everyone on board with this, and eventually spread it to other surrounding communities,” Samms said. “And the background checks won’t stand alone in the process of determining if a person can rent. If it is obvious the person is trying to turn their life around, they will have no problems finding a place to live in our community.”

Samms said the increased communication is the most important part of the program, especially in Ames, where the majority of crime the city experienced did not involve those living in rental housing, but rather those visiting or staying with the renters.

“We are going to try to educate landlords on what they can do to reduce that sort of criminal element in their community,” Shelton said. “I think everyone is pretty excited.”

The inaugural eight-hour training session will be held Aug. 11 at Ames City Hall.