Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — Residents of a local subdivision are working to reduce crime in a way that focuses on individual homes — the crime-free lifestyles program.

Fox Meadows is the first neighborhood in Montrose to begin implementing techniques developed by the International Crime Free Association to reduce the potential for residential crimes such as burglary and vandalism.

"In the last three to four years, we've started to witness significant increase in crime," resident Ken Holyfield said Wednesday. Holyfield is also a member of the Fox Meadows homeowners association. He's lived in the subdivision for seven years.

Ken Holyfield stands over a recently-vandalized tree in the Fox Meadows subdivision Wednesday. Holy fied and other Fox Meadows residents are beginning to implement techniques for reducing residential crimes as outlined in the crime-free lifestyles program. (Barton Glasser / Daily Press) Advertisement

"As a board member and homeowner, we just want to be proactive about it and not just let the neighborhood quality decline."

The crime-free lifestyles program is, along with the crime-free hotel/motel program, an off-shoot of the ICFA's crime-free multi-housing program, Montrose Police Sgt. Paul Eller said.

It targets single-family units and is touted as a cost-efficient alternative to neighborhood watch programs.

"The neighborhood matures, people move away, then they don't continue the (neighborhood watch) program," Eller said. "With CFL, you're getting the entire neighborhood involved, but the program works by certifying the individual home."

Neighborhoods undergo a four- to eight-hour training class, under the auspices of the Montrose Police Department. Eller presented Fox Meadows' session Feb. 23.

The residents must now implement the training and apply for certification, which requires a home inspection. The inspections assess each home as to environmental design elements — what Eller calls lights, locks and landscaping.

The inspections will also look at overall property condition, to ensure it's in good repair and free of trash and clutter. Once a home is approved, it will receive certification for one year and can, depending on individual policies, qualify for insurance breaks.

Eller will conduct the first inspections this spring, but thereafter, designated members of the HOA who are certified will be allowed to perform them.

"It makes the individual homeowner more responsible for what happens on his own property as well as the community," Eller said.

Eller also has a personal stake in Fox Meadows' CFL program — he lives in the subdivision and asked the HOA board whether it would like to hear about CFL.

"They listened and put it out on a HOA survey and the members wanted the program," he said.

"It's pretty exciting stuff," said Christi Prettyman, who manages the HOA through Mint Properties. "I like the fact that Sgt. Eller lives in the community, so he has a vested interest."

Fox Meadows was built in 1999. "I don't think a whole lot of thought was going into subdivisions back then," Prettyman said. "It's nice to see this community trying to improve itself.

Prettyman said she hoped interest would grow within the subdivision, though the turnout for Eller's initial training last week wasn't as high as anticipated.

"The key to it is going to be high levels of participation," Holyfield said. "If only five houses choose to do it, it's not going to make a difference. The goal is to encourage everybody in the entire neighborhood to be proactive and participate."

Holyfield said the turnout — 12 to 14 residents from among the 65 contacted by the HOA — was disappointing.

"I was extremely disappointed in the neighborhood willingness to participate in the class," he said, adding that several residents raised the issue of crime when they were surveyed on concerns. "We specifically called that group of people to try to get them involved. We had a very weak turnout at best." It was also announced in the HOA newsletter, he said.

Eller said that even a few participants were better than none because crime is moving to suburbs. "One of the trends now is that druggers and criminals are moving out of apartment complexes and into single-family units in subdivisions. That's a national trend."

Criminals seek — and find — anonymity in suburbs, where there can be less attention on their activities, he said. "Some of it is they (homeowners) don't expect it and also because we've become apathetic as to what goes on in our neighborhoods. We're not paying attention as well as we should be."

Montrose implemented crime-free multi-housing in 2006 and the crime-fee hotel/motel program in 2007, which Eller said saw measurable success.

In the program's first year, 39 properties, with a total of 382 units, participated. Calls for service fell by 14 percent and criminal reports fell by 12 percent. There was a 28-percent increase in arrests and 68 evictions related to criminal activity.

There are now 57 rental properties and two motels in the programs, with a combined total of 552 units. Seventeen percent of those properties are fully certified under the crime-free programs.

Crime-free lifestyles also covers single-family units being rented in subdivisions, which both Prettyman and Holyfield cited as an advantage.

"We're hoping to encourage all homeowners that rent their properties to participate in the program so they can be better equipped to really screen their renters and if there is a problem, equip them to handle the problem," Holyfield said.

Simple steps can reduce the potential for crime: security locks, dead bolts of the proper configuration on doors, a second means of locking sliding doors, better lighting and trimming back landscaping to reduce perpetrators' hiding places.

"A big part of it is implementing those things as well as just communicating with your neighbors," Holyfield said.

For more information about the crime-free lifestyles program, contact Eller at 252-5225 or visit www.crime-free-association.org

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