Condo Media - May 2019 - 29

HOW SECURE ARE
YOUR PARKING AREAS?
NOT NEARLY
SECURE ENOUGH,
EXPERTS SAY

sk security experts to identify the highest-risk areas
of a condominium community, and most will say
parking. Ask which areas get the least security attention, and the answer will probably be the same.
"Parking areas are either underground, behind
the building or otherwise remote from it," says
Christopher Lanni, CMCA, AMS, CPP, president of Secure
Residential Services, LLC, and corporate risk adviser for
Barkan Management Company, Inc. Those characteristics
make these areas "inherently dangerous," he adds, but it
also puts them out of sight and out of mind for managers,
leaving them low on the priority list when security plans
are being developed or budgets are being drawn.
Security measures are often on full display in lobby areas,
protected by surveillance cameras, access controls and
often by staff members who monitor the front door. Many
garages, by contrast, reflect evidence of benign neglect-
lighting is dim, monitoring infrequent or nonexistent, and
access to the building unrestricted through unprotected
doors and stairways.
DARK ISN'T COMFORTING
"Garages are filled with nooks and crannies" in which intruders can hide, Lanni says. But boards often select cost-saving
light fixtures that are more energy-efficient, but also less
effective. "The lighting in garages by most standards is often
dark," which is "not comforting" for residents, Lanni notes,
but helpful for intruders.
Associations often assume, incorrectly, that access controls
for garage entries provide all the security they need, Lanni
says. But when analyzing building security, he frequently
follows an authorized car into the garage on foot, to demonstrate to board members how easily that presumed defense
can be penetrated, giving intruders access not only to the
garage but also often to the common areas beyond. "Relying
on a garage door to protect the entire property from peril is
not usually a good security strategy," Lanni observes.
He finds security in outside parking areas equally deficient
in many communities. Distance, dim lighting and inattention
invite "secondary uses" of these areas, evident, Lanni says,
in the empty beer bottles, cigarette butts, discarded syringes,
trash, and other signs of unwelcome activity that accumulate
there. These private areas become gathering places for uninvited and unwelcome visitors, who use the space as their own.
"This creates security risks for owners, to be sure," Lanni says.
LOW-COST IMPROVEMENTS
Improving security in parking areas doesn't require massive expenditures on high-tech equipment, he emphasizes.

Effective lighting, he notes, can both improve the comfort
level of residents and discourage intruders who want to hide
in the shadows. Motion-sensor lighting triggered by movement, or staged lighting that increases gradually in intensity,
can reduce energy costs without reducing security benefits,
he suggests. Simply cleaning the lenses attached to some
fixtures can significantly enhance the light, Lanni points out.
Painting garage walls bright white can have the same effect.
In outdoor parking areas, he emphasizes maintenance.
Signs of secondary use, he says, are the equivalent of a welcome sign to outsiders, signaling that they can gather undisturbed. "Keeping the space clean tells the world that this is
your space, you care about it and you are watching it."
In garages, he stresses the need to evaluate the entire
space-not just the garage but entrances leading to common areas. Given the possibility that intruders may gain access to the garage, he says, doors, stairways and elevators
leading to common areas should be blocked to outsiders.
"If you need a credential to get into an elevator or open a
stairway door, an intruder who gets into the garage won't
be able to go any further. He'll have to turn around."
Because cell phone service is often limited-or nonexistent-underground, Lanni suggests associations install
emergency phones that link directly to 911, enabling
residents who feel threatened or are injured to call
for help. Signage pointing to elevators, stairways and
exits, he notes, will help residents quickly identify
escape routes if they need them.
Intruders don't always have to sneak into a garage
(or an outdoor parking area); sometimes they are invited
in by owners who illegally rent parking spaces to them.
"This opens the parking areas to people who aren't
screened," Lanni says. "You don't know who has access."
To prevent this type of unauthorized use, he suggests
replacing the portable clickers that open mechanized
gates (and are easily shared with others) with adhesive
transmitters attached to the windshield of the owner's car.
Removing the adhesive will deactivate the transmitter.
When thinking about the security of parking areas,
Lanni suggests, boards need to consider the potential
for "escalating risks." The intruder in a garage looking to
steal items from parked cars, he explains, may respond
violently if surprised by a resident. "Now the person who
was committing one type of crime (a robbery), may commit
a more serious one-assault or worse." The costs of security
measures that will reduce these risks, Lanni says, are more
than outweighed by the need to protect residents, and the
potential liability for associations that fail to take reasonable
steps to do so.
May 2019 CONDOMEDIA

Condo Media - May 2019

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