Just as suburban homeowners sometimes experience a garage or car break-in, so do residents of apartment buildings, whether they are rental buildings or condominium buildings. There are solutions, of course. Measures can be taken by all homeowners to reduce the incidence of crime and to increase the likelihood that someone committing such crimes will be caught.
Access control is the first and most obvious way to keep out undesirables. Some condo apartment buildings still don't have locks on interior doors leading to parking garages, although that upgrade is an obvious first step. Even better than keys is an electronic "fob" entry system, so that lost keys can be deleted from the computer's list of keys authorized to enter and move about the property. The elevator should be secured the same way, of course, although easy emergency exiting from the building must be maintained. In other words, you can keep people out, but they must be able to leave easily.
Garage overhead doors should close immediately after a vehicle has pulled out or entered. At my home building the door starts to close only five seconds after it's opened fully, which is plenty of time for a car to come or go, but allows no time for a car or pedestrian to follow. Don't count on residents waiting for a slower overhead door to close before moving on, as everyone's in a hurry.
Most condo buildings have Bylaws or house rules that prohibit renting parking stalls out to non-residents, but these rules are seldom enforced. People on foot coming and going via the car ramp are likely a sign of this. The Board and its manager should make sure that only building owners and tenants park indoors and have access. Enforcement is easy by disabling "fob" keys that are being misused.
In a very few buildings people own a condominium-unit parking stall without owning a suite or a condo commercial space in the building above. These stall owners have the right of access to their parking stall property, although security measures can be arranged to restrict them to garage-only access.
Bright lighting and white-painted walls come next in our list of garage security measures. Every indoor garage should have lots of low-energy-use but bright lighting fixtures. Walls and even ceilings can be painted white or cream to reflect that light, making people feel secure and allowing no one to feel that they can skulk around unseen.
As to being seen, the next logical step is to have security cameras in the garage, and to plug them into a motion-activated digital video recorder that will save images with a date and time stamp. A great step beyond this is to display one or four images from these cameras on a TV in or facing through glass into the garage. Lowlifes seem to presume that cameras aren't working unless they see the image of themselves on display. I like to post a note saying that those looking at their own image have already been recorded. They usually then leave.
Security patrols are more affordable than most condo boards would imagine. For $10 or $20 per night a security firm will contract to visit the property and inspect the entire garage, questioning anyone they find, and checking doors to ensure they're locked. As the legendary Watergate security guard will tell us, a door latch taped over is a sure sign of nefarious deeds under way.
Lastly, signs at entrances should tell ne'er-do-wells about the cameras, DVR recording and security patrols, because although they'd likely be caught if they entered, you'd rather they just move on, and with these measures, they surely will.
Calgary Condominium Directory
