Where people get in after hours
How people get past the locks, fobs and cameras, in residents’ and boards’ own accounts, and what changes with someone watching. The numbers match the plan above.
| Place | How people get past what’s there | With someone watching |
|---|---|---|
| Pool and amenities | Locked, fenced, on key cards or fobs, signed and filmed, and entered after closing anyway: over the fence, by one person climbing in and opening it for the rest, through key-card locks that fail, or by staying past close. One board counted 8 separate instances in 6 days. “It’s the same people,” says a condominium board member. | An operator sees it on live video after closing, and the people your plan names are told while it’s happening. |
| Garage gate | Tenants of two complexes with gated garages describe cars broken into overnight inside them: people “pulling up the garage gate from the ground and crawling underneath,” and a gate that “doesn’t work half the time.” Nobody describes anyone watching the garage. | Someone watching the gate and the cars at night, rather than the footage being pulled after the break-in. |
| Stairwells and back doors | A tenant describes a man sleeping in the back stairwell. The landlord’s answer: keeping the back door closed is up to the tenants. | An operator who sees someone at the back door can speak to them over the property’s speakers. |
| Entrances and lobby | Unauthorized access and package theft are two of the problems we handle on residential property. | We monitor entrances as the Blinkless Virtual Concierge and give management real-time visibility. |
| Parking lots | Parking-area theft and vandalism are two more we handle. | The lot watched at night, with incidents escalated when necessary. |
| Rooftop | We name rooftops with pools as places where people aren’t authorized after a certain time. Your plan says whether yours needs watching, and when. | Set in your plan, if your building has one. |
Who does something while it’s happening
Nobody from the property is there at night. Boards, staff and tenants describe what happens instead.
Today
- Residents are told to call the police rather than confront anyone, and boards are uneasy with it: “we don’t have security, or a designated person.”
- The cameras are there, but nobody is watching them late at night.
- One board member walks the pool in person after 10 PM, and has been advised not to police it as a board member.
- Staff at one complex called the police about non-residents in the pool at night. The police didn’t arrive before they left, and the pool was closed “until we get security.”
- Tenants describe a courtesy guard who couldn’t control a party and called the police too.
With someone watching
- An operator sees it on live video while it’s happening.
- The operator can speak to the people there over the property’s speakers, through two-way audio.
- The people your plan names are told while it’s happening, and incidents are escalated when necessary.
- Afterward you get the footage and an incident report.
- After closingA camera picks up someone at the pool.
- LiveAn operator looks at the live video and speaks to them over the speakers.
- ToldThe people your plan names are told.
- PoliceCalled if your plan says so. Where your city takes a trespass authorization and one is on file, the call rests on it.
- DocumentedThe warning is on the video: when and where it was given.
- AfterwardThe footage and an incident report.
Whether the police come, and what they do when they get there, is up to them. Before relying on speakers in common areas, check your state’s rules on audio.
Letting the police act when nobody from the property is there
Fourteen of the eighteen cities in our trespass register have a police programme for a standing trespass authorization: paperwork filed in advance that lets officers act on the property’s behalf when nobody from it is there. Whether yours takes one from an apartment or condominium property depends on the city. Every programme runs on the same five steps.
Filed before anything happens
By the owner, or by the manager as the owner’s agent: all fourteen programmes let someone other than the owner file. Some also take a list of people allowed on the property; Dallas’s has room for up to 10 names.
The property is posted
Someone sees the person and calls it in
The paperwork can’t do this part. An authorization on file does nothing until someone sees the trespasser and calls it in.
A warning first, documented
Officers warn first and arrest on refusal or return. Each warning is documented by name, date, time and place: that record is what makes the next visit an arrestable offence.
Someone from the property signs
Someone has to sign the complaint and testify.
Where video fits. An officer watching a camera feed isn’t the offence happening in the officer’s presence, so video isn’t a shortcut to an arrest. It is the record the warning rests on, and Austin’s policy (GO 437.2.1(a)) lets officers establish probable cause from probative video.
City by city
| City | Apartment property | What the programme says | Register entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Names residential property | Trespass Arrest Authorization, the 41.24 form: residential (with unit count) or commercial, the property manager’s contact, no notarization. 12 months at most. The person in lawful possession may file. | Full entry for Los Angeles |
| Houston | Names residential property | Trespass Affidavit, notarized, with a separate residential form. No expiration stated. | Full entry for Houston |
| Fort Worth | Names residential property | A notarized affidavit in a residential/apartment version. The city’s council report says property managers, employees and security guards may give a trespass notice. | Full entry for Fort Worth |
| San Diego | Names residential property | Letter of Agency, which asks the property type: apartment, business, private home or vacant lot. | Full entry for San Diego |
| Chicago | Names residential property | Criminal Trespass Affidavit for commercial property and multi-unit common areas, 1 year. The form names the owner or manager. | Full entry for Chicago |
| Dallas | Private property generally | Covers private property generally; the form is signed by the owner, manager or another person with care, custody and control of the property. It takes an authorization list of up to 10 named people allowed on the property. | Full entry for Dallas |
| Phoenix | Common areas | Lists common areas. The owner, manager or agent may file. | Full entry for Phoenix |
| Portland | Excludes multifamily housing | No multifamily housing. Also excluded: mixed-use and single-family properties, 24-hour businesses and properties with security on scene. | Full entry for Portland |
| Seattle | Multifamily only if vacant | For property commonly open to the public; private residences and multifamily housing qualify only if vacant. | Full entry for Seattle |
| Salem | Commercial or vacant property | Scoped to commercial or vacant property. | Full entry for Salem |
| Eugene | Commercial or vacant property | Scoped to commercial or vacant property. | Full entry for Eugene |
| Charlotte | Commercial or vacant property | Scoped to commercial or vacant property. | Full entry for Charlotte |
| Austin | Commercial or vacant property | Scoped to commercial or vacant property. | Full entry for Austin |
| San Antonio | Commercial or vacant property | Scoped to commercial or vacant property. | Full entry for San Antonio |
| Atlanta | No programme | No trespass authorization programme. | Full entry for Atlanta |
| Las Vegas | No programme | No trespass authorization programme. | Full entry for Las Vegas |
| Philadelphia | No programme | No trespass authorization programme. | Full entry for Philadelphia |
| New York City | Ended | The Trespass Affidavit Program was residential-only, covering interior patrols of privately owned apartment buildings. The NYPD ended it on 30 September 2020. | Full entry for New York City |
What other complexes do, and what to ask a provider
What other complexes have done
- Close the pool early
A padlock at 10 PM, pool codes cut after 8 PM, guards who enforce the hours, or the pool shut until security is in place.
Residents lose the evening hours, and a locked pool still gets entered over the fence.
- More gates, and a guard on foot
After airbags were stolen from cars in its garage, one complex added an extra security gate, new fobs and sensors, and a night-time guard walking the property.
Hardware, plus a person’s hours every night.
- A shared patrol
Neighbouring buildings hired one private security company together after break-ins the police had given up on.
Its guard then damaged three residents’ cars.
- Leave it to insurance and the lease
Tenants are told “the complex isn’t liable for any of it.” Small landlords are advised to rely on tenants’ insurance and add lighting and cameras “to protect you from some attorneys.”
Nobody acts while it’s happening.
- No budget, keep calling the police
“WE DO NOT BUDGET FOR SECURITY AND I NEED TO KEEP CALLING THE POLICE,” one association writes; a 191-home association “can’t afford security guards.”
And the police may arrive after the people have gone, as one complex’s staff found.
The only prices people named were an off-duty officer at $25 to $40 an hour and a consumer camera service with a staffed monitoring desk at $99 a month. Both are commenters’ figures, not quotes.
Four questions for any provider, us included
“We spent over 40k on cameras that no one ever watches,” a condominium owner says. Before anyone signs, ask:
Is a person watching live video, or are the cameras recording for later?
An association that paid for cameras “supposedly monitored” by a local security company found that “the company never viewed the feed, just responded to the security alarms.”
During which hours?
Another was “assured of 24 hr monitoring.” It turned out to mean the cameras were on.
What happens when someone is seen, and who is told?
“Monitored” has meant cameras that only record, alarms passed to a monitoring centre, and a person watching live video. Only a person watching sees it while it’s happening.
What does the property get afterward?
One property manager who doesn’t watch the cameras reviews the footage afterward with the police, insurers and owners. That record is what you hand them.
Who residents accept watching
Some boards keep pool cameras for recordings only. “Cameras are not monitored live. They are only for recording and reviewing if a problem is reported,” as one board puts it. Another made sure no camera pointed at the pool, and lets nobody view footage alone. The reason they give is residents’ privacy.
What residents object to is a board member, a volunteer or an on-site manager looking at them: one apartment tenant objects to cameras playing “continuously in the property managers office.” Where live watching is accepted, paid staff do it: security guards with the live feeds, access control officers, “Professional management & security personnel.” Not everyone objects. One board member checks the pool cameras two or three times a day with no protests.
Your plan sets the hours. A watch that runs only after closing, when nobody should be in the water, is one way to scope it. Whether that answers your residents’ concerns is for your board or management to judge.
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A free written plan for your complex
We look at the complex from satellite imagery and the list of cameras it already has: the perimeter, the entrances, the garage, the pool and the other amenities people use after hours. Then we write down the places and hours worth watching, what happens when someone is seen and who is told, and the price for that scope. The quote is the plan.
For one property or a portfolio: apartment communities, condominiums, high-rises, student housing and senior living. The plan is yours to keep whether or not you go further.
- Send the address and your camera list. The cameras already up, and where they point.
- We look at it remotely. From satellite imagery and your list. Nobody comes out.
- You get the written plan. The places and hours to watch, what happens when someone is seen and who is told, with the price attached.
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The address and the cameras already up are enough to start. Nobody needs to come out.