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THE COST OF CRIME
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published June 14, 2021
I worked
my way through college by working at The Brooklyn District
Attorney’s Office. I loved my job. I would interview
defendants to determine if community service was a more
appropriate punishment than incarceration. If I was convinced
that the defendant could be trusted, I would send him or her to
a church, nursing home, community park, synagogue or other
community site to perform their required hours. If they screwed
up and didn’t go, I would go to their homes and pay them a visit
and remind them that if they don’t go back and complete their
hours ASAP I will re-open their case and ask for jail time.
This was during the height of the crack crisis in New York and
let’s just say after a few years of banging on doors in
Brooklyn’s worst neighborhoods, I’m lucky to be writing this
column.
Sometimes
I would look at a criminal’s rap sheet and it seemed to go on
forever. Ten, twenty, thirty arrests over a lifetime. I always
thought, how is this possible? After a few times of committing
a violent crime, a person forfeits the right to be among the
community. Don’t they? That’s it. Put him or her away and
throw away the key for the benefit of everyone else and before
someone else gets shot, mugged, beaten raped etc…
That old
fashioned way of thinking is gone. Today, criminal defendants
walk out of jail without even having to post bail. The liberal
media wants you to think that incarceration is somehow evil.
It’s not. It’s protection for the rest of us that don’t commit
crime after crime and enjoy walking our neighborhoods without
fear of a violent encounter. Today, we turn on the TV and there
is multiple shooting after multiple shooting, day after day
after day. Do you believe that the people doing the shooting
and the home invasions and the robberies don’t have a criminal
record? You can rest assured they do and if you saw their
record, you would be appalled that they were still on the street
and were given the opportunity to commit more violence.
So, where
does this leave our community associations? I am seeing
associations for the first time being unable to obtain insurance
coverage should a crime occur in the community and the
association gets sued for failing to provide adequate security.
This is scary, as negligent security cases can result in
verdicts of seven figures. Imagine having to pass a special
assessment to pay this verdict. Because crime is now literally
everywhere, the negligent security cases against associations
will no doubt continue to rise. To be clear, if an association
knows or should have known about violent crime, not just within
the association, but within the neighboring community, the
association must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of
the residents. If you fail to do so, and someone gets attacked,
no doubt your community gets sued alleging Negligent Security.
Rest assured that after one claim, it will be more difficult to
obtain coverage and the residents will have to pray another
crime doesn’t happen on the premises.
It scares
me when I see activists claiming that jail is inhumane, racist
or otherwise cruel. I could not care less what color someone
is. If they are violent and a threat to my community, I want
them locked up and off the streets. This failure to protect our
communities from violent offenders is now coming home to roost
and are placing our community associations in absolute peril.
Tip for the day…..call your insurance agent and make sure your
community is insured should a crime happen and the association
gets sued for Negligent Security.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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