Home » How Can You Help Deter Multifamily Property Damage and Vandalism?

How Can You Help Deter Multifamily Property Damage and Vandalism?

Posted by Shawna Ivy on Aug 25, 2021

Vandalism and other types of malicious property damage at your multifamily community can not only cause residents, their guests and your staff to feel unsafe, but can reduce community curb appeal and be costly to repair. Take a look at the following video compilation of vandalism and other property damage taking place at various apartment communities. Live video monitoring aided in alerting police in a timely manner to prevent further damage and in apprehending the suspects.

Intoxicated Man Shatters the Front Door of an Apartment Community

In the early morning hours, a trained Stealth security operator noticed an individual tampering with the access control keypad on the entrance of an apartment community. Failing to gain access, the individual exited the building.

Sometime later, the operator saw the same individual return and attempt to access the building again. The individual slumped down and sat on the floor of the entryway. Standing up, as he once again tampered with the keypad, a person excited the door in which the seemingly intoxicated individual was trying to access, so he tailgated into the building. The individual exited the building again.

The same suspicious individual, seemingly intoxicated, returned to the building. Our security operator watched as he slammed his body into the building’s glass door and cracked it. Our operator called police.

The individual smashed the bottom half of the door and reached his arm inside trying to unlock it. Unsuccessful, he grabbed the metal cross bar on the door to support and balance himself as he pushed his booted foot forcefully against the glass. The door finally opened, and the man entered the building.

Officers arrived on-site within minutes of our operator placing the call. After our operator relayed information about the suspect’s whereabouts, officers located the suspect and led him out of the building in handcuffs.

Trespasser Cuts Metal Framed Gate with Pair of Wire Cutters

A perceptive Stealth Monitoring security operator noticed an individual wearing a black hoodie and shorts, with a backpack slung over his shoulder, walking down the sidewalk of a California apartment community’s sidewalk. Wire cutters in hand, he walked toward a metal gate and began cutting part of the frame.

Our operator activated the on-site speaker warning multiple times and then called local police. The suspect opened the gate, grabbed a bicycle and walked out the gate.

A police cruiser arrived within minutes, followed by a second. Officers apprehended the suspect, transferred him to a patrol car and took him off site.

Suspect Caught Spray Painting a Security Camera in a Parking Garage

A suspicious individual carrying a tote bag was seen by a Stealth security operator as he entered an apartment parking garage. Standing by a cement column, the individual removed an item from a bag that was identified as a can of spray paint. The individual reached up and covered a security camera mounted onto the cement column with paint. Our operator called police as the suspect exited the garage.

The suspect returned to another security camera and briefly sprayed it with paint. The suspect exited the garage through the side hallway.

Three police cruisers entered the parking garage through the entry gate.

Two officers on foot inside the parking garage spotted the suspect walking toward a door. They approached and handcuffed the suspect, and led the individual toward a police cruiser.

Live Video Monitoring Helps Police Catch Vandals in the Act

In each of the videos above, live video monitoring was used to prevent suspects from escaping three different multifamily communities after committing a crime. All three suspects’ actions – breaking a glass door, cutting a metal gate and spray-painting security cameras – were all interrupted because Stealth’s trained monitoring operators took immediate action when they noticed suspicious activity taking place on their screens. All these incidents led to local police arriving on scene in time to apprehend and arrest the suspects.

When unwanted incidents of property damage and vandalism are in progress at your community, timing is everything to keep your property and residents safe. The developing incident must be seen with trained human eyes and immediate action taken to help deter damage or other unwanted outcomes.

Stealth operators watch multiple areas on your property at once and react in real time. They can sound an audible warning to deter the individual(s) involved and send them fleeing the property.

If that doesn’t work, our operators can contact local police. Stealth has a great working relationship with local police departments. When departments receive a call from us of a crime in progress, that incident will typically be elevated and responded to quicker than other incoming calls.

Contact us to deploy a fast-acting security solution to help deter property damage and vandalism on your multifamily property.