Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property · Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs MONOGRAPH Third Edition, January

Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property:

A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs

MONOGRAPHThird EditionJanuary, 1999

Developed by:

Originally Funded by

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Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property:

A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs

MONOGRAPHThird Edition, January 1999

Developed by:

Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.

Program originally funded by:

Bureau of Justice AssistanceOffice of Justice ProgramsU.S. Department of Justice

Includes the third edition of the participants’ manual

Copyright © 1993-1999, Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. All rights reserved. For information about useof this document, contact Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. (CDRI), or visit http://www.cdri.com.Distribution of this document in "PDF" format on the World Wide Web by CDRI is for the sole purpose ofallowing a complete verbatim copy to be viewed and printed. Separate permission is required to adapt,modify, excerpt, make electronic copies, or use in any other manner.

Questions and requests regarding usage of these materials should be directed to:

Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.319 SW Washington, Suite 802Portland, Oregon 97204

Phone: (503) 221-2005Fax: (503) 221-4541E-mail: [email protected]://www.cdri.com

This 1999 National Train-the-Trainer Program edition has been published by Campbell DeLong Resources,Inc. for use in those trainings. The first edition of this document — printed in 1996 — has also beensubmitted to the Bureau of Justice Assistance for publication and national distribution. This third editionvaries from the second edition in that it contains updates in the References and Resources section in thedocument appendix.

Portions of this document were originally written, copyrighted, and distributed by Campbell DeLongResources Inc. under the titles: Program/Instructor’s Guidebook, © 1993 and the Landlord TrainingProgram, National Program Manual, © 1993.

This project was supported — through the first edition of this monograph — by cooperative agreement No.94-DD-CX-K014 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.Department of Justice, which has a license from Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. to make use of thesematerials. The Bureau of Justice Assistance may be reached at the following address:

Bureau of Justice Assistance633 Indiana Avenue NWWashington, DC 20531(202) 514-6278

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includesthe Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

Points of view or opinions contained within are those of Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., and do notnecessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://www.cdri.com

Acknowledgments

The Landlord Training Program began with the willingness of command staff at the Portland PoliceBureau to support the work of a concerned neighbor with a new idea. The program received its firstfunding when the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), US Department of Justice stepped forward toassist. The partnership between BJA and the City of Portland provided continued program developmentopportunities while the concepts were further refined, tested, and implemented.

Four individuals, in particular, have stood at critical gate-keeping crossroads: Tom Potter, previously ofthe Portland Police Bureau, Sharon McCormack of Portland’s Neighborhood Crime Prevention Program,Margaret Shelko of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Ron Trethric, formally of BJA. Each of thesepeople, I am sure, can point to other gatekeepers in their organizations — people who said yes when theycould have said no; people whose support and trust were critical to making the work succeed. In thislimited space, I wish to acknowledge these four champions who said their “yes” to me.

Many landlords, property management companies, owners associations, tenant attorneys, landlordattorneys, and citizen activists provided hours and hours of opinions, review, and recommendations tomake the program as powerful as it is today. While development of the training was supported by many,three Oregonians in particular provided hours of invaluable expert advice on applied landlord/tenant law:Sharon Fleming-Barrett of Executive Property Management and the Oregon Apartment Association,Emily Cedarleaf of the Multi-Family Housing Council of Oregon, and Multnomah County Judge MichaelMarcus, formerly of Multnomah County Legal Aid Services.

In addition to the work done in Portland, adaptation, refinements and new ideas have been developed inmany other jurisdictions as well. As the author of the original program, I feel an overwhelmingindebtedness to many and particularly wish to acknowledge the work of Martin Collins and Karin A.Long of the Department of Building Inspection, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; James Hobbs, Carla Johnson,Paul Hallums and Don Loebbaka of the Tucson, Arizona Police Department; Daphne Markham of theOakland, California Police Department; and Sam Wade of the Beaverton, Oregon Police Department.The innovations of these people, and many others, to adapt from and build on the Landlord TrainingProgram have provided critical testing of the program and introduced many new and effective ideas forboth improving on and tailoring the impact of the original program.

Without the dedicated involvement of these and many other people, the Landlord Training Program andits variations around the country would not exist.

John H. CampbellPortland, Oregon

This monograph contains two very distinct sections:

Section I provides an overview for law enforcement personnel.

Section I is written for law enforcement personnel who wish to understand the history of the LandlordTraining Program and gain perspective on what it takes to implement a program for an individualjurisdiction.

Section II reproduces the national version of the participant’s manual.

This is the manual that landlords receive at the training. It is provided in this, a monograph for lawenforcement, because it is the best way to show directly the content, scope, and paradigm of the LandlordTraining Program.

To provide a visual aid in navigating this document, Section I is shown in two-column format,Section II in full page format.

Contents

Section I: Program Description

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... I-1

The Community Policing Connection................................................................. I-1

The Genesis of the Landlord Training Program ................................................. I-1

Core Program Overview...................................................................................... I-2

Results Summary ................................................................................................ I-4

Chapter 2: Getting Started................................................................................................ I-6

Elements of Success............................................................................................ I-6

First Decisions .................................................................................................... I-7

Key Personnel ..................................................................................................... I-7

Building and Maintaining Trainer Expertise ...................................................... I-9

Developing a Local Manual .............................................................................. I-10

Designing the Training...................................................................................... I-13

Marketing .......................................................................................................... I-16

Chapter 3: Related Problem Solving Tools.................................................................... I-19

“Landlord Compacts” ....................................................................................... I-19

Milwaukee’s Partnership with Lenders ............................................................ I-20

“Three-Phase” Certification Programs.............................................................. I-20

Coordination with Civil Enforcement Strategies.............................................. I-21

Training of Officers .......................................................................................... I-23

Section II: Participant Manual

Title/Introductory pages

Preparing the property.........................................................................................................1

Applicant screening.............................................................................................................5

Rental agreements .............................................................................................................23

Ongoing management........................................................................................................27

Apartment watch/promoting community ..........................................................................33

Warning signs of drug activity..........................................................................................39

If you discover a clandestine lab.......................................................................................47

Crisis resolution ................................................................................................................51

The role of the police ........................................................................................................61

The Section 8 program......................................................................................................65

Resources ..........................................................................................................................67

Appendix

Sample letter for manual draft review.............................................................................A-2

Sample “Chief’s Letter”..................................................................................................A-3

Sample Information Page................................................................................................A-4

Sample Schedule Page ....................................................................................................A-5

Sample Registration Form...............................................................................................A-6

Sample Confirmation Letter............................................................................................A-7

Sample Certificate of Completion...................................................................................A-8

Sample Evaluation Forms ...............................................................................................A-9

References and Resources.............................................................................................A-15

Landlord Training Monograph Section I: Program Description

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Section I: Program Description

Chapter 1: Introduction

The Community Policing Connection

The Landlord Training Program emphasizescooperation among property owners, tenants,and law enforcement agencies to helpneighborhoods fight drug-related crime.Enthusiastically supported and praised by oftenopposing groups, the program delivers twoimportant messages: that effective propertymanagement can significantly benefit the healthof a community and that accessible, legitimatetechniques can stop the spread of drug activityon rental property.

Establishment of Landlord Training Programswill require a commitment to substantiveproblem solving and to building and sustainingeffective community partnerships. Relying as itdoes on these concepts of community policing— especially the encouragement of community-based problem solving as a goal — the LandlordTraining Program can be part of a strong,proactive community policing effort.

This monograph: “Keeping Drug Activity out ofRental Property: A Police Guide forEstablishing Landlord Training Programs,” wasdeveloped to help police agencies implementLandlord Training Programs in theircommunities.

The Genesis of the Landlord TrainingProgram

The concept for the Landlord Training Programbegan, originally, with a group of frustratedcitizens who were organizing to move drugdealers out of their neighborhood. These

neighbors — many of whom were rentersthemselves — began to focus on two importantfacts:

• The traditional policing approach ofwaiting for enough evidence to serve a searchwarrant often results in a solution that is toolate to preserve community livability. Mostcommunities can handle some short-term drugactivity without suffering substantial harm to theneighborhood’s livability. But when drugoperations are allowed to continue unabated formonths, or even years, the harm to thecommunity becomes extreme — by the time thedrug dealers are removed, many good citizenshave already left the neighborhood, propertyvalues have declined, other good citizens havechosen not to move into the area, and those leftbehind face life in a neighborhood that is nowmuch more vulnerable to crime. In acommunity-oriented context, search warrantsmust be seen as just one of many tools and notas the only tool. If a warrant can’t be servedquickly enough to stop major harm to acommunity, other solutions — often civil innature — should be pursued.

• Most landlords are not skilled in theprevention of illegal activity on rentalproperty, but are willing to learn.Community organizers continually noticed that,despite the commonly held image that alllandlords with problem tenants are irresponsiblecitizens, most of the time when such a landlordwas contacted, the property owner wanted tohelp, but needed better information about howto approach the problem.1 Clearly, there was an

1

To be sure, irresponsible landlords do exist and often take upa disproportionate amount of police resources as a result ofbehavior that runs the gamut from the merely irresponsible tothe criminal. However, most landlords who have problemswith illegal activity on their property don’t fit this category —that is, they would prefer to act more responsibly and willchange their approach if trained.


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untapped resource in rental property owners.Landlords are the first line of civil defense whena bad tenant is threatening a neighborhood. Assuch, landlords who understand the scope oftheir ability to prevent illegal activity can be avaluable resource. Because most drug activity(growing, manufacturing, distributing) takesplace on rental property, the concept for theLandlord Training Program was born.

The content of the program has been developedthrough a process of intensive research withhundreds of organizations and individuals,including landlords, management associations,tenant advocates, private attorneys, publicdefenders, personnel from public housingagencies, tenant screening companies, andnarcotics detectives.

Major funding for the program was providedoriginally through several Bureau of JusticeAssistance grants, as well as in-kind supportfrom the City of Portland, Oregon. The programwas designed and developed by John Campbell— now of Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. —the citizen organizer who first recognized thepotential of such an approach. The first trainingwas conducted in Portland in November of1989, with 94 landlords participating. By thefall of 1995, over 7,000 landlords and propertymanagers had attended Portland’s program,representing well over 100,000 rental units. ThePortland program was the first of its kind in thenation and has received recognition as anInnovation in State and Local Government fromthe Kennedy School of Government at HarvardUniversity.

While the story begins in Portland, it doesn’tend there. Since the success of the firsttrainings in 1989, jurisdictions in many stateshave adapted the program to their owncommunities, often adding valuable innovationsof their own. Examples of states where versionsof the program have been developed includeArizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois,Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico,New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, andWisconsin.

Among other notable locations, Milwaukee,Wisconsin has received national recognition forits adaptation of the program. Also, in Arizona,many cities are now offering a three-phaseversion of the program. Targeted primarily tomulti-family properties, the Arizona modelcombines a landlord training with a separate on-site crime prevention through environmentaldesign (CPTED) property review and anapartment watch orientation for tenants.

The program and its national variations haveevolved over the last nine years to reflect theexperiences and comments of those who haveparticipated in the program. However, while theprogram has evolved substantially since itbegan, in most jurisdictions it remains true to itscommunity-oriented roots: while the targetedaudience is owners and managers of rentalproperty, the purpose of the program is to servethe communities in which their property stands.

The purpose of this Monograph is to review theelements of the core program — the LandlordTraining Program — as well as to review someof the innovations that have been developed byother jurisdictions. The intent is to give policean overview of potential approaches and anunderstanding of the scope of work involved.

Core Program Overview

The Landlord Training Program teaches rentalowners and managers how to keep drug activityoff their property. The program was developedwith input from people on all sides of the issue— not only landlords and property managementassociations, but legal aid attorneys, tenantadvocates, Public Housing Agency personnel,police officers, and many others.

The Landlord Training Program delivers twoimportant messages: 1) effective propertymanagement can have a major impact on thehealth of a community, and 2) there are simple,legal, and fair techniques that can be used tostop the spread of drug activity on rentalproperty. The program does not teach landlordshow to be “junior narcotics agents” nor to dopolice work. It teaches them their responsibility


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as landlords in working with police andneighbors to keep drug and other illegal activityout of their rental properties. The coursecontent includes:

• Orientation. The role of the landlord inkeeping neighborhoods healthy — what it takesto build and maintain healthy communities.

• Preparing the Property. How the conceptsof crime prevention through environmentaldesign (CPTED) can best be used to preventillegal activity on rental property.

• Applicant Screening. How to screen outdishonest applicants, while assuring that honestapplicants are encouraged to apply. Warningsigns of dishonest applicants.

• Rental Agreements. Approaches that willstrengthen the ability to evict drug dealingtenants.

• Ongoing Management. How to manageproperty in a way that discourages illegalbehavior and ensures early warning should itoccur.

• Community Building. How to strengthenthe sense of community in multi-family housing.The benefits for managers and residents in doingso. Discussion of apartment watch and how towork with neighbors.

• Warning Signs of Drug Activity. The drugsinvolved. The behavior associated with dealing,distribution, and growing. The indicators ofclandestine labs.

• Crisis Resolution. The options, the process,the practical application in various situationswhere illegal activity is apparent.

• Working with the Police. What to expect,what not to expect, and how to get maximumcooperation.

• Section 8 (Subsidized Housing). When alandlord rents to a tenant through the “Section8” housing subsidy program, the rights andresponsibilities of both landlords and tenants aresomewhat different from the typical privaterental situation. The training addresses some of

those differences to help ensure equal successregardless of the type of rental.

The training’s impact is a function of the qualityof information and the number of landlords andproperty managers who absorb it. To bring abouta fundamental shift in approach to propertymanagement, a large portion of landlords in acommunity must take the course. That is why anintegral part of the program is the techniques usedto make sure landlords attend. The core program,therefore, has three basic elements:

1. The training manual. The manual followsthe course information and is designed to be a“plain English” reference source. In addition tocovering course content, manuals adapted tolocal jurisdictions typically include copies ofapplicable laws and references to supportorganizations. Evaluations of the originalmanual, developed for Portland, validate itseffectiveness: trainees consistently rate themanual as having successfully achieved the goalof being a highly readable source of valuableinformation. A complete copy of the manual,adapted for national distribution, comprises thesecond part of this monograph.

2. Marketing/outreach. Marketing is criticalto success, since the benefit to the communityrises as more landlords are trained. Whilemedia exposure, word-of-mouth, and contactwith property management companies are allimportant, it is also important to make directcontact with owners of impacted rental property.

Agencies that have used a letter of invitationsent directly by the Chief of Police have hadconsiderable success in encouraging landlordsto attend. Using such an approach, over 7,000landlords representing over 100,000 rental unitsattended the Portland training between 1989 and1995. Results at other jurisdictions have variedand appear to depend on both the level ofcommitment to comprehensive marketing andthe quality of the training product delivered. Inthose communities where a strong training isconducted, and the commitment to marketing ishigh, attendance results are comparable to thoseexperienced in Portland. Additional discussion


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of marketing approaches can be found beginningon page I-16 of this monograph.

3. The training itself. This is a six to eighthour course offering detailed information on thecourse content in a lively, interactive format.

Results Summary

Results from post-training surveys and sixmonth follow-up surveys confirm that traineesboth learn important information and takesubstantial action as a result of the course.Findings include:

• Trainees need the information. In surveystaken at the Portland trainings, one in fourreported problems with drug activity in a rentalunit in the past two years. 1

• Six months later, perception of trainingvalue remains strong.2 While at-the-trainingevaluations show strong positive ratings, moresignificant is the fact that trainees continue toappreciate the training. In six month follow-upsurveys, over 90% agree that they feel moresecure in their ability to screen applicants, aremore likely to recognize drug activity should itoccur, and are more confident of their ability toevict tenants involved in such activity should theneed arise.

• Six months later, 91% of trainees reportedhaving made changes in the way they managetheir properties. Most report multiple steps.Some of those actions include: development ofwritten applicant screening criteria, conductingmore thorough maintenance inspections; cutting

1 Based on post-training questionnaire data collected in Portland

through the spring of 1993. Questionnaires were distributed toall participants at the end of each training session. Sample sizeis 3,335.

2 Six month follow-up questionnaires were collected from 1989,1990, and 1991 trainees. Questionnaires were mailed to each ofthe 2,641 "groups" of landlords who attended the trainings inthose years (a "group" is one or more people responsible for thesame set of property — in many cases a husband and wife). Inall, 1,512 questionnaires (56%) were returned. The theoreticreliability of a sample of 1,512 out of a population of 2,641 is±1.7%, assuming a two-part variable with results evenly split,95% confidence level.

back shrubs, adding lighting or otherwiseimproving the visibility of rental units; updatingrental forms to match current laws; trading phonenumbers with neighbors; and starting apartmentwatches.

• Those who had problems with drug activityused the training to help. In total, 15% ofrespondents in follow-up surveys (221) had todeal with drug activity on their properties in thesix months since taking the training. Of those,nine in ten (208) used information from thetraining to address the situation.

• The experience of officers on the streets alsovalidates the impact. In multi-family property,where statistics on the impact of managementchanges are easiest to track, trainees who applythe program concepts have seen dramaticreductions in illegal activity. Police agencieswho conduct calls-for-service research haveindicated reductions in calls by 70% or more insome properties. Also, officers involved insolving drug house problems report that, whenillegal activity does occur on property owned ormanaged by a graduate of the program, lesspolice time is typically required to address theproblem — trained landlords are generally moreaware of their responsibility to act and of theiroptions in doing so.

The combined power of the manual, marketing,and training can result in a growing base oflandlords who are better able to do their part tohelp reduce crime, fear, and disorder in acommunity. As a result, the Landlord TrainingProgram can be a powerful tool to generate moreeffective partnerships with landlords and theirtenants. Police officers who have worked closelywith the program report a transformation in theattitudes of landlords they deal with. A policecaptain who oversees the Portland PoliceBureau’s specified crime/warning letter programdescribed the difference this way:3

3 Letter from Captain Robert G. Brooks, Portland Police

Bureau, Drugs and Vice Division, July 19, 1994. CaptainBrooks commanded the Drugs and Vice Division prior to theimplementation of landlord trainings in Portland, moved on toother commands and then re-assumed command of the Drugsand Vice Division five years after the program began. For


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“[Before landlord training and related effortsbegan] I spoke with many landlords who oftenwere reluctant, if not even hostile, aboutassuming any responsibility for criminalactivity on their properties. The concept thatthey were expected to be part of the solutionto crime problems was foreign and unsettlingto say the least. …I have sensed a remarkablechange in the attitudes of landlords over thepast five years. First, very few calls even getthrough to me questioning the warning letters,and the ones who do never question theappropriateness or authority of our actions.The only question now seems to be ‘what doyou want me to do?’ …I am sure this is due[in part] to the cumulative effect of the manylandlord training classes which have beenconducted.”

Such attitudinal changes are difficult to measurestatistically, and even harder to link with specificcauses. However, it is clear that in thosecommunities where the Landlord TrainingProgram is being used well, the attitudes oflandlords and property managers have begun tochange. A few examples of the way that programparticipants describe the value of the training:

“We screen much more closely. …We verifyeverything on a tenant's application — I can'ttell you how much we needed the course. Weare more confident now and we refer to ourhandbook regularly.”

“I appreciate this program and feel if themajority of rental owners are given thistraining, our city will improve and crime willdecrease. As a landlord and homeowner inthe city, I hope this will be the case. Veryeffective use of Community Policing funds.Thanks.”

“Basically the training gave me more faith inmyself to go ahead and act.”

more about the warning letter process referred to, seeCoordination with Civil Enforcement Strategies, page I-21.

“This proactive approach is just what we need— not only as landlords, but as committedcitizens.”

Overall, it is clear the training reaches a broadcross-section of landlords and managers, providesboth information and perspective not foundelsewhere, and motivates real change in the wayrental owners and managers take care of theirproperty.


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Chapter 2: GettingStarted

Elements of Success

For a Landlord Training Program to besuccessful, it must meet the following basicdesign criteria:

1. The right trainer/program manager. Theresearch from around the country consistentlyshows the factor that correlates most stronglywith success of the program is the commitment,understanding, and enthusiasm of the programcoordinator/trainer. Jurisdictions where thecommitment is light, or where rotational policiesprevent personnel from developing the expertiseto understand the program, will have difficultysucceeding.

2. Tailored to the jurisdiction . While itseems obvious, it is very important thatjurisdictions answer a basic question beforeimplementing the program: “What problem arewe trying to solve?” Every community isdifferent in many dimensions — different crimeproblems, landlord/tenant laws, rental practices,housing characteristics, ethnic/cultural issues,political climate, and others. The causes for theproblems are equally diverse. In onecommunity, training alone may be all that isneeded to help turn a problem around. Inanother, solving the problem may require acoordinated effort of training, enforcement, andmuch more.

3. Designed around an understanding of theconcerns of both landlords and tenants. Thecourse was developed to communicate in theaverage landlord’s language, and to speakdirectly to landlords’ needs and concerns.Landlords must believe their problems areunderstood before they will consider newattitudes or approaches. This takes time andstudy. It demands that trainers research locallandlord/tenant law and develop an expertise inits application — the trainer should understand

applied landlord/tenant law the way a dedicatedpolice officer understands applied criminal law.

Also, the course was designed to give landlordsways of preventing drug activity that are bothlegal and fair — approaches that will benefit notjust landlords, but honest tenants and neighborsas well. For this reason, the trainer mustunderstand not just the concerns of landlords,but also the concerns of tenants.

In many jurisdictions, the program has receivedenthusiastic support from groups that often siton opposing sides of landlord/tenant issues:landlords, property management associations,legal aid attorneys, neighborhood activists, andlocal Public Housing Agency personnel.However, it is also important to note that in afew jurisdictions, where the viewpoints oftenant advocacy groups were not fullyconsidered, substantial tension has grownbetween program implementors and tenantrights advocates.

4. Built on a coalition of support from bothlandlord and tenant advocates. Unless theprogram is fully understood, some who will becalled on to support the program may bereluctant to do so. Across the country,important work has been done by many peopleto help prevent abuse by unresponsive oruncaring landlords. Some who have beenfighting for improvements in tenant rights mayinitially view training of landlords as a threat tothat cause. Indeed, a poorly implementedprogram could be harmful. That is why it isimportant for the trainer to study the issues welland why partnerships with both tenant andlandlord advocates should be developed prior toimplementing a program.

A well-implemented program will be a unifyingforce for positive relationships between tenantsand landlords, something which an entirecommunity will welcome. However, if donepoorly or without developing the necessarypartnerships, the program will only make worsethe historic presumption that police favorcitizens who own property over those who donot. In fact, it was just this type of perceptionthat forced one city to have a false start: in this


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case, the city shut down its Landlord TrainingProgram until it could successfully negotiate anagreement on training content with local tenantrights advocates who had not been included inthe initial program development.

5. Solution-oriented. The training focusesonly on what can be done now to solve theproblem of illegal activity on rental property. Itis not a forum for discussing how thelandlord/tenant laws, the criminal justicesystem, or anything else should change. Itdoesn’t teach how “the system” is supposed towork; it teaches how it actually does. That’s akey strength.

6. Marketed for a broad impact. The impactof the training is a function of two factors: thequality and motivational power of the materialpresented, and the number of landlords who takethe course. Therefore, both content andmarketing are important. Unless many landlordsare reached, the training is of little value to thebroader community.

First Decisions

Three basic questions must be answered in theaffirmative before beginning the program:

1. Do we have the problem? If your area hasdrug houses, gang activity, or other chroniccriminal problems that are frequently based inrental housing, this program can be valuable forgaining more help from the propertymanagement community to solve the problem.

2. Is the problem large enough to require aformal program ? While the tools in thetraining can be applied wherever there is aproblem with illegal activity in rental property, afull program — as described in this monograph— may not be necessary. In a community witha small rental base and the resources to contactevery landlord when necessary, there may not bea need to set up an entire program, but simply toensure that a member of the department is wellversed in the issues covered here. Conversely,

if the number of complaints received aboutillegal drug or gang activity outstrips thecapacity to respond, then the Landlord TrainingProgram can generate valuable and willingassistance from landlords and propertymanagers.

3. Do we have the funding, commitment, andpolitical support to do it right ? This is thetough one. The Landlord Training Program isnot a simple program to implement, and it doesnot lend itself to partial implementation. Tohave a substantial impact, substantial work isinvolved. While the workload may be on theshoulders of one person or spread among two orthree, think in terms of a minimum of a one full-time equivalent for the first six months ofprogram development and a minimum of one-third time after that. However, somejurisdictions use more than one full-time staffperson to maintain an ongoing program.Further, implementing the program requiresdeveloping a unique expertise. Volunteers, part-time trainers, officers who rotate in and out oftraining duties, or “panels” of local expertsrecruited to present each seminar will notaccomplish the goal.

Key Personnel

The program requires an individual who can puton the trainings and handle programmanagement and another person who canmanage the marketing and logistics tasksinvolved. A brief description of the positions:

1. The trainer/coordinator. The mostimportant personnel decision is selecting theperson who will fill the roles that require thehighest skill levels: those of trainer and projectcoordinator. There is an advantage of continuityin having these tasks handled by the sameperson. However, some division of labor amongtwo or more people is also possible.

This role includes responsibility for the entireprogram. This person must make the timecommitment to get the program off the groundand become its first trainer. Other


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responsibilities include guiding the marketingstrategy, organizing scheduling and logistics,and making continual updates andimprovements to the training overall. Thisindividual will also research and write allsupplemental training materials needed to adaptthe national manual to local laws andordinances, as well as provide basic programmanagement skills.

More specifically, the role of trainer will requirethe following skills and qualifications:

✓ A background working directly to solveproblems in neighborhoods affected by illegalactivity . The training must not be presentedfrom the tenant’s or the landlord’s point ofview, but from the neighborhood’s point ofview. Such a perspective comes most naturallyto crime prevention oriented officers and staff,or to neighborhood organizers who have workeddirectly with the problem on their own street.

Selecting a sworn officer to become the firsttrainer has both benefits and drawbacks. Thekey benefit: once an officer can provide thetraining, it becomes easier to “institutionalize”the program as a department problem-solvingtool. The most common drawback: because theprogram requires a long-term commitment tosucceed, an officer who is rotated to differentduties too quickly may not be in the positionlong enough to get the program underway or tomaintain continuity.

✓ Comfortable making professional,energetic public presentations. The personshould have prior experience in providingtrainings. Audience-trainer interaction and theability of the trainer to respond to landlords’questions are crucial to the training’s success.This requires strong training skills and solidconfidence in the training material.

✓ Ability to sort through the nuances of legalprocess and explain them in a lay person’sterms. Landlord/tenant laws are typicallydesigned with the idea that landlords and tenantsshould be able to understand them withoutsubstantial legal assistance. In practice, thereare twists and turns that many find confusing. A

large part of the trainer’s task is to sift throughthe legal language and present each step interms that the average landlord or propertymanager can understand.

✓ Strong writing skills . A critical early stageof the trainer’s job will be to research and writethe supplemental materials needed to adapt thenational manual to local laws and ordinances.This will apply especially to state statutesregarding eviction. Again, the goal is to makethe supplement clear and readable for landlordswho may have little knowledge of legal process.

✓ A sense of empathy and diplomacy. Abalanced approach that takes into account theperspectives of a variety of advocate groups iscritical to the success of the program, both interms of generating support for the program andin terms of the program’s ability to reduce drugactivity in residential neighborhoods. Asuccessful trainer/coordinator should understandthe concerns of the full spectrum of involvedparties: tenants, landlords, judges, publichousing agencies, legal aid attorneys, andaggrieved neighbors.

For this reason, it is generally desirable to selecta trainer who is neither an advocate forlandlords nor an advocate for tenants. Thetraining should not be used to advance theagenda of either landlord or tenant rights, but topromote the welfare of the whole community,landlords and tenants included. The program’ssuccess hinges on the trainer’s understandingthat a community-oriented property managementapproach serves honest tenants better and is alsoa better long-term business approach for thelandlord.

Similarly, if an attorney is selected to teach thecourse, that person must be able to do more thanjust teach law. The trainer must be able tounderstand and teach perspectives that are notdefined by law — that is, go beyond explainingwhat a landlord must do or must not do, and alsoexplain what a landlord may do. The focus ofthe course must remain on empoweringlandlords and managers to manage theirproperty effectively. Courses that focus only onexplaining the law will not motivate trainees to


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adopt a community-oriented propertymanagement approach.

✓ Experience managing at least one rentalproperty . While this is not considered amandatory prerequisite, it is certainly asignificant advantage. Credibility with traineesis much easier to establish if the trainer hasdirect experience managing rental property.

Time requirement: Assuming one personhandles both the trainer and project coordinatorroles, this would be approximately full time forup to nine months. After this, the timecommitment is less: one-third to one-half time,depending on the configuration of programresponsibilities and the number of trainingsoffered per year.

2. The marketing assistant. The marketingassistant makes sure the marketing andregistration logistics work smoothly. Tasksinclude: reserving training facilities, developingdatabases, coordinating mailings, managing theregistration/confirmation process, organizingsales and distribution of manuals, and handlingall logistics associated with setting up andrunning the training. The person also handlesall day-to-day logistics associated withevaluation of the program.

The marketing assistant will need the followingjob skills:

✓ Comfortable working with the public . Thejob requires extensive public interaction, bothover the phone and in person.

✓ Clerical level computer skills. Theseinclude word processing skills to generate themarketing materials, and database managementskills for mailings and for registration.

✓ Efficient at handling logistical details andmeeting deadlines. With many different tasksto coordinate, strong organizational skills are amust.

Time requirement: three-quarters to full time fortwo months, followed by approximately one-

half time. The actual time involved may be less— it will depend on the distribution ofresponsibilities and the number of trainingsoffered per year.

Building and Maintaining TrainerExpertise

Establishing trainer expertise begins withselecting personnel with the type of backgrounddescribed in the section on Key Personnel,beginning on page I-7. However, the ability toprovide the training effectively also requiresdeveloping and maintaining a knowledge baseabout current and evolving landlord/tenantissues. Trainers who are committed toproviding a high quality program will make surethat they:

✓ Participate heavily in the researchdescribed in the following section, Developinga Local Manual. This will help give the trainerthe base of expertise needed to provide aneffective program.

✓ Take the opportunity to attend any locally-offered property management trainings aswell as any trainings offered to teach tenantsabout their rights under the law. By attendingsuch events, trainers will develop a greaterunderstanding of the issues that fuellandlord/tenant law debates, and a deeperunderstanding of the importance of a police-sponsored training maintaining a fair andbalanced approach toward landlord/tenantissues.

✓ Develop working relationships with localexperts. This should include, at minimum,individuals in the community who arerecognized advocates for the rights of landlords,as well as individuals who are recognizedadvocates for the rights of tenants. Byconsulting experts on both sides before makingsubstantive changes in training content, thetrainer can help ensure a balanced programapproach.

✓ Seek out educational opportunities fordeveloping and maintaining trainer skills.


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Professional trainer skills are beyond the scopeof this monograph, but it is certainly worthemphasizing that developing and maintainingeffective skills in Adult Learning Model trainingtechniques will benefit the quality of theprogram.

Developing a Local Manual

It is essential to have program materials that areaccurate, fair, effective, and readable. Inaddition, by developing the program materials,the trainer/coordinator will also develop thenecessary expertise to present the training.

The national manual, enclosed in thismonograph, provides a strong foundation andcan be used directly for training by aknowledgeable trainer. However, lawsgoverning landlord/tenant relationships varysignificantly, not only by state, but by city andcounty as well. Therefore, the value of theprogram will be enhanced substantially ifadditional information, tailored to local laws,can also be presented. The degree to whichtailoring to local law and customs will benecessary is dependent on two factors:

1. The uniqueness of the laws and practices.Research into the local law and typical rentalpractices will give the future trainer anunderstanding of the level of tailoring required.

2. The sophistication of the likely audience.If problem rental properties are typically ownedby “mom and pop” landlords — people whogenerally own less than 20 units and for whommanagement of rental property is not a full-timeoccupation, then it is very important to tailor theinformation and develop a high understanding ofthe nuances of local laws. This is the audiencethat has the least knowledge of landlord/tenantlaw and operates most often on “folk law,” or onlaw that is long out of date. The “mom andpop” audience will respond very well to specificinformation that finally clears up the mysteryabout how to manage various of parts of therental process more appropriately.

In contrast, if problems at rental property aretypically at large, multi-unit properties, with on-site resident managers who work for propertymanagement companies, the focus of thetraining is different. The details of eviction, forexample, are not as important to this group —they typically already have company policiesand corporate attorneys who keep them up todate.

Types of issues that are most important to tailorfor the jurisdiction include:

• Specifics of local civil rights laws.Nationally, fair housing law prohibits a landlordfrom making rental decisions on the basis ofrace, color, religion, sex, handicap, nationalorigin, and familial status (the presence ofchildren). Most states add other protectedcriteria, and some local communities add others.Also, the case law of a state can result inadditional protected criteria that are notspecifically described in the law — for example,California’s “Unruh Act” has been interpretedby courts to include something called “arbitrarydiscrimination,” which effectively prohibitsmaking screening decisions based on criteriathat are not related to the business purpose athand.

• Other unique laws that regulate screeningpractices. For example, some states regulatethe way a landlord is allowed to collectapplication deposits and screening fees. (Asdescribed in the manual, requiring a small fee ordeposit with an application has preventionvalue, but it should be done in a manner thatdoes not create a barrier for low incometenants.)

• Appropriate process for a landlord toenter/inspect an occupied rental. The types ofnotices and conditions under which a landlordmay enter occupied rental property varies bystate.

• Specifics of local police practices.Landlords will want to know whom to call, whattype of response to expect, and what steps canbe taken to get the most effective assistance.Clearly, this is an important part of a tailoredpresentation.


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• Specifics of eviction, particularly inextreme situations. To be sure, there is valuein showing landlords the full range of evictionoptions. After all, as the training teaches, it is arare drug dealer whose only lease violation isdealing drugs. Landlords who are willing toenforce the basic requirements oflandlord/tenant laws are less likely to have drugproblems on their property. However, the mostimportant information to communicate is theoptions for eviction in a real crisis — the type ofsituation to which police are called withfrequency. Thus, trainers should know theanswer to such questions as the type of notice toserve if police have served a warrant and foundcriminal evidence of drug distribution, or theappropriate notice to serve when one tenantinflicts serious physical harm on another.

• The policies and practices of the localhousing authority. Coordination ofinformation with the local public housingagency is a must. Make sure that landlords arepresented with accurate information aboutrenting to tenants who receive public rentassistance.

• Local references. Provide a list of suchreferences as property management associations,tenant screening services, crime preventionoffices, narcotic units, legal services availablefor tenants, mediation programs, the local publichousing agency, and various others.

• Local law. At minimum, all trainees whoreceive a manual should receive a copy of locallandlord/tenant law as well.

The most expedient approach is to create asupplement to the National Landlord TrainingProgram manual and then bind the supplementand the National Manual as separate sections ofone document for the training. A more time-consuming approach is to do what manyjurisdictions have opted for: create a moretailored manual that integrates information fromthe national manual with local materials.

Three examples of locally adapted manuals thathave been approved by the original developer ofthe Landlord Training Program are the manualsdeveloped for Portland, Oregon; Milwaukee,

Wisconsin; and the City of San Bernardino,California. Those contemplating developmentof an integrated manual should review one ormore of those documents. Contacts for thosedocuments are provided in the Appendix of thismonograph.

Whether preparing a supplement or a completelyintegrated manual, take the following steps todevelop the local material:

1. Request, and receive, permission toreproduce and adapt the national manual.To reduce the possibility of replicating outdatedor inaccurate materials, local manuals must beadapted from a current version of the nationalmanual, or from a version of a locally-adaptedmanual that has been approved in writing by theoriginal program developers for in-stateadaptations. Unfortunately, out-dated andinaccurate information has been reproduced inmanuals where these basic quality-controlprocedures are not followed.

The process for gaining permission to reproduceand adapt the manual is simple: mail or fax arequest, on your agency’s letterhead, to:Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. 319 SWWashington, No. 802, Portland, OR, 97204. Fax:503-221-4541. A letter specifying therequirements for copyright permissioncompliance will typically be mailed to you within21 days of your request.1 Disk copies of thelatest version of the national manual (Section II ofthis Monograph), as well as an electronic versionof the overheads used in the training, will beprovided upon request.

2. Read local landlord/tenant laws andrelated statutes and ordinances. Beforeseeking the opinions and input of others,become familiar with the laws. Without athorough understanding of the nuances oflandlord/tenant law as it applies locally, thetrainer will not be in a position to ask the right

1 Should procedures related to copyright permission change at a

future date, you will be advised of the new procedure at thetime you submit your request. There is no charge to publicagencies for receiving copyright permission and, as of the dateof this publication, no plans to implement one.


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questions, or to develop the balanced approachnecessary to make the training succeed.

3. Conduct the initial research. Develop a listof “experts” who can provide information onlocal issues. A wide range of opinions isimportant. Consider interviewing landlords,management associations, tenant advocates,neighborhood activists, private attorneys, publicdefenders, judges, Public Housing Agencypersonnel, tenant screening companies,narcotics detectives, and patrol officers, amongothers. Build consensus with all of these groupsfrom the start to generate balanced information.

This is not an easy task. In each state wheresuch interviews have been conducted, there aresubstantial levels of tension between landlordand tenant advocates, considerablemisinformation stated as fact by experts whoshould have known better, and considerabledisagreement about a variety of rental practices.Typically, the complete picture does not emergein any jurisdiction until the same questions areasked of many people with a variety ofperspectives. Do not talk to just one or twoexperts and consider the research complete.With each expert interviewed, importantquestion areas to explore include:

• Opinions regarding what landlords of localproperty most need to know in order to stopillegal activity on their property.

• Opinions about messages that should not becommunicated in a program of this type.

• Detailed descriptions of practices orprocedures about which the person is arecognized expert. For example, ask a judge orattorney to describe the court-ordered evictionprocess and the types of mistakes commonlymade by both sides; or ask fair housingenforcement people to explain the most commonmistakes made by local landlords. To ensure abalanced understanding, ask people fromopposing sides of an issue to describe the sameprocedures.

• Their willingness to participate in review ofmaterials developed for the program.

4. Develop a first draft and have it reviewed.Once the initial research is complete, write afirst draft of the supplement and submit it forreview by the people with whom the initialresearch was conducted. While some of thereviews will likely result in little more thanvaluable goodwill developed between thesponsoring department and the individual, otherreviews will produce important feedback thatwill correct and fine-tune the manual in criticalways.

This step is commonly short-changed by policedepartments doing their own adaptation of themanual. A review of many manuals developedby other jurisdictions shows a surprising degreeof sloppiness. The most common errors:

• Description of laws from other states statedinaccurately as true for the jurisdiction.

• Procedures that are unique to one policeagency repeated as policy for another.

Telling trainees inaccurate information aboutthe law in their state — or the department’sprocedures — is generally much worse thantelling trainees nothing at all. Yet it isdisturbingly common for departments to do thatwhen adapting the training manual. One of theorigins of such mistakes springs from amisperception of the role of reviewing attorneys— in effect confusing a liability review with anaccuracy review. To be sure, a liability reviewby the appropriate department attorney isimportant. However, do not confuse adepartment attorney’s endorsement of adocument’s legal disclaimers with alandlord/tenant expert’s careful, word-for-wordreview of the content.

The findings from developing manuals forLandlord Training are consistent: review of themanual by any single person, regardless ofexpertise level, will not uncover all issues thatneed to be addressed. Due diligence demandsthat the manual be carefully reviewed by manypeople with different perspectives onlandlord/tenant issues.

The most important feedback received is oftenfrom knowledgeable landlords, attorneys whospecialize in representing landlords, and


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attorneys who typically represent tenants. But itis never from a single person or agency — theperspectives of multiple, knowledgeable peoplein a community are important for ensuring theaccuracy, and appropriateness, of theinformation in the manual.

5. Revise the draft for final review.Following extensive review of the first draft, arevised draft should be completed. This draftwill be close to the finished product. Review ofthe revised draft should be taken on by a few ofthe key people who reviewed the first draft —generally those who were willing to take thetime to give extensive feedback at the first draftstage.

6. Make final changes and go to print. Oncethe second draft review is complete,development of the final document should berelatively smooth. With final changescompleted, the document should be given a finalcheck by the jurisdiction’s attorney, and thensent to print.

Designing the Training

The following is an overview of some thecomponents to consider when designing thetraining itself. Trainers who plan to implementa program will be well served by attending anational train-the-trainer program to gain amuch more in-depth look at specific trainingelements.1

Once the manual revisions are complete, thetraining can be developed relatively quickly. Inaddition to tailoring for local law, qualifiedtrainers will likely wish to refine and/or developtheir own presentation materials for the programas a whole. Because of the skill level required,there is no substitute for the thinking processinvolved in generating customized trainingmaterials.

1 Contact Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. (503-221-2005 or

e-mail: [email protected]) to find out about upcomingtraining events — many of these trainings are sponsored insuch a way as to make them free of charge to participants.

Initially, a limited number of pilot trainings (4-6) should be provided and the results assessed,both through review of post-trainingquestionnaires and through informal analysis bythe trainer and observers. Adjustments shouldbe made over the course of those trainings andmore in-depth changes made following theircompletion. At the conclusion of thosetrainings, the trainer should have acquired thenecessary confidence in his/her ability to presentthe program effectively. Once adjustments aremade following the initial series, the programwill be ready for full implementation tolandlords and property managers throughout thejurisdiction.

Much of the information about how the trainingcan be presented is discussed in more detail inthe national train-the-trainer seminars developedwith this monograph. The following is intendedonly as a general guideline to some of the mostcritical aspects of putting on an effectivetraining.

1. The introduction is very important. Studythe introduction of the training with care, andpractice the introduction more than any otherpart of the program. The introduction allowsthe trainer to gain “permission” to manage theaudience, and sets the tone for the entireseminar. In particular, it is important to:

✓ Clarify responsibilities. Dispel possibleresentment in the room resulting from sometrainees’ expectation that the training willsomehow blame landlords for the problem ofdrugs in our society. Define the role oflandlords by clarifying that, in dealing with drugand other illegal activity, landlords are animportant part of the whole solution, but theyare not alone — police and neighbors must playtheir part as well. Get “permission” to focus therest of the training on the landlord’s role.

✓ Emphasize the civil nature of the course.Dispel confusion about the purpose of thetraining. It is a course in effective propertymanagement, with an emphasis on effective useof civil law. It is not a course in undercovernarcotics work or how to confront a drug dealer.


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✓ Establish permission to regulate questions.While it is important to answer questions ashonestly and fully as possible, it is alsoimportant to avoid having the seminar becomean extended question-answer period with just asmall percentage of people actuallyparticipating.

✓ Control expectations. Clarify that the coursewill stay focused on what a landlord needs to doto prevent illegal activity on rental property.For those who need more information aboutmanaging rental property, the course can serveas a good introduction — but only anintroduction. Encourage participants to contactlocal property management associations or otherresources for ongoing support. Get permissionto downplay questions that don’t relate closelyto issues of illegal activity, otherwise thetraining can quickly lose focus.

✓ Get the audience involved. Include anaudience participation process in the early partof the training to promote involvement andquestions throughout the seminar. In thePortland version this is done with a show ofhands in response to various questions, and byquickly building a list of questions that traineeshope to have answered by the end of the session.

✓ Clarify the difference between the trainerand a personal attorney. Establish that thetrainer is not playing the role of any trainee’slegal adviser. Clarify that the trainer is a teacherand can help address landlord/tenant issues, butcannot make individual decisions for trainees.The responsibility for property managementdecisions remains the landlord’s. Trainees whowish another person to share in that decision-making responsibility should hire an attorney.

✓ Agree on the schedule. Establish agreementabout the length of the training and the numberof breaks.

2. Stories help. Real-life stories helpcommunicate effectively. Examples of appliedproblem solving make the training more real,and when drawn from the trainer’s ownexperience, help build trainer credibility.

3. Keep civil rights issues in mind. There ismuch confusion among landlords about civilrights laws. In addition, some trainees haveeven asked openly how they can “get around”the law. Making sure landlords understand whatthey can and cannot do will promote the criticalgoals of civil rights laws and give landlordsmore ability to screen appropriately,confidently, and without engaging in illegaldiscrimination.

4. Tell them what they can do. Trainers whoare not confident of their material will quicklyfall into the trap of spending too much timeequivocating, repeating legal disclaimers, orover-emphasizing warnings about what alandlord shouldn’t do. To be sure, it isimportant that trainees understand theimportance of following the law and thepenalties for breaking it, but the purpose of thecourse is to give trainees new tools to use.Make sure that the majority of the training isfocused on explaining what can be done.Trainees won’t learn how to help if the onlyinformation they receive is about what not to do.

5. Stay focused on a community-orientedapproach. Many who attend the training willbe watching to see if the training is “pro-landlord” or “pro- tenant.” While it should beboth, most of all it should be “pro-neighborhood.” Discuss new training materialwith advocates on both sides before using it —often, important perspectives are uncovered thatwere not initially apparent.

6. Answer questions, but don’t let questionstake over the training. Question-answerperiods are a critical part of the learning inevery seminar, but they should not take over thecourse. Questions that are overly specific anddo not offer a teaching opportunity for thewhole class should be referred to a break andnot dealt with during class time. Learning toallow enough questions, but not so many thatimportant parts of the seminar must besacrificed, is an important balancing act.

7. Make sure everyone who presents knowstheir topic and the intent of the course. While


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there is no requirement that a single personprovide the entire training, beware of thetemptation to use a “panel of experts” to teachthe course. Each person who presentsinformation in the training must have a fullunderstanding of the scope and purpose of theseminar.

8. Address the displacement myth.Underlying many citizens’ reluctance to getinvolved in pushing crime out of aneighborhood is the belief that any action shortof arrest and incarceration is pointless — thatpushing drug dealers out of one location willonly “move the problem around” by causing thedealers to move down the street and start upagain. This very assumption is what blocksmany from understanding the impact of aninvolved community. The following discussionis intended to provide some examples of ways toaddress this issue.

• A qualitative argument for the benefits of“displacement.” Of course, displacement doesoccur — hard-core drug dealers will move outof one property and move into another just tobegin dealing again. For those dealers, evictionis only a temporary interruption of theirbusiness. But the issue is larger. Drug activity isnot a static thing — if left alone, it doesn’t staythe same; it grows. Moving the activity will, atleast, stunt the growth. When drug dealers areallowed to continue in one place, theneighborhood children get more exposure to thewrong role models. Friends of the dealers seethem paying no penalties for their illegal activityand consider getting into the businessthemselves. Neighbors who have the resourcesto move out, do so, leaving behind a communitythat is further destabilized.

In contrast, moving drug activity has theopposite effect — children see bad role modelspaying prices; dealers’ friends are lessmotivated to follow them into the business; andlong-term renters and owner-occupants decideto stay in the neighborhood. Screening out, orevicting, drug dealers will not solve the wholeproblem, but is a part of the solution. Itincreases community-wide resistance to illegal

activity — a major goal of the LandlordTraining Program.

• Supporting data from the MilwaukeePolice Department. Support for theimportance of simple “displacement” isprovided by the Milwaukee Police Department’sDrug Abatement Program which conducted atracking study of persons involved in drugactivity who had been displaced from thelocation of the activity. The study wasconducted by Milwaukee narcotics detectives1

and provides some compelling data to contradictthe traditional concern that civil enforcementdoes nothing but displace the problem in a one-for-one fashion. The study suggests that, inMilwaukee’s case, even though most displacedsuspects remain in the City, surprisingly fewcontinue to engage in the same type of high-community-impact drug activity.

The detectives conducting the study identified138 individuals who had been involved in drugactivity in the past year where the activity hadbeen abated, yet the individuals were notincarcerated or on parole or probation — that is,the individuals were potentially only“displaced;” they were still free andunsupervised.

Investigating detectives stated that they used allmeans at their disposal to locate the 138 peopleand then to determine if they were still involvedin dealing or manufacturing illegal drugs. Forpurposes of the study, detectives did not requirea criminal level of proof to count a person aslikely to be involved in drug activity. Theylooked at all available behavioral indicators,including searching for any complaints againstthe person’s address for behaviors commonlyassociated with drug activity. Here is what theyfound:

✓ Only a few had left town or couldn’t befound. 14% of the 138 had either leftMilwaukee (13 people) or could not be located(6 people, four of whom were wanted on felony

1 Contact Detective Lt. David Bruess, Milwaukee Police

Department, 749 W. State Street, Room 427, Milwaukee, WI,53233. Phone: 414-935-7131


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arrest warrants). The remainder were confirmedas still living in the city. Detectives made noattempt to examine the activities of those whohad left Milwaukee.

✓ Less than one in five were identified as stillinvolved in drug dealing or manufacturing.Only 17% of the free and unsupervised peoplewere found to be still involved in drug dealingin Milwaukee (24 people total — some of whomwere arrested as a result of the study). While aconfirmed, actual displacement rate of 17% isterrible news for the neighbors who must livenext door to the problem, it is nevertheless asmall portion of the total. Indeed, one of thepurposes of the study was to determine if skiptracing of displaced dealers could be used as anefficient method of locating drug activity in thecommunity. Their conclusion: Given the timerequired to conduct the skip traces, and the lowpercentage of drug activity found, skip tracingof displaced drug suspects is not an efficientmeans of fighting drug activity.

✓ Over two thirds were considered bydetectives to be no longer involved in dealingor manufacturing illegal drugs. In all, 69%(95) of the 138 free and unsupervised peoplewere considered to be no longer dealing ormanufacturing controlled substances.Detectives caution that they cannot withcertainty “prove the negative” — that all 95were definitely not involved in drug activity.However, they believe they established withconfidence that all 95 were no longer involvedin the types of overt drug-related behavior thatso substantially harms the livability ofneighborhoods and draws the ire of thecommunity.

Results are shown in the following table.

Milwaukee Skip Tracing Study

Drug activity confirmed

17.4%

Out of town9.4%

Can't Find4.3%

No apparent drug dealing/mfrg

68.8%

n=138 individuals "displaced" in past year

Even allowing for a substantial margin of error,this is strong evidence that improved civilenforcement against drug criminals —potentially causing “displacement” — arevaluable contributing tools to the reduction ofdrug activity in a community.

Marketing

The impact of the training depends on twofactors: the quality of the information, and thenumber of landlords who receive and act uponthat information. To bring about a fundamentalshift in property management attitudesthroughout a community, it is essential to have alarge proportion of landlords take the course.Providing a quality training is only half the job.The other half is effective marketing tolandlords with property in impactedcommunities.

The basics of training marketing include:

1. Finding and inviting landlords. A three-tiered marketing approach is recommended: aletter campaign, media exposure, and otheravailable sources. They are described below:

• The letter campaign. A letter sent to rentalproperty owners, signed by the community’schief law enforcement official, is the primarymarketing tool. The letter is mailed to owners


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of residential rental property in targeted areas.The letter discusses the problems involved withhaving a drug house on rental property,describes the content of the course, and inviteslandlords to register for a training date.

While the content of the letter is important, so isthe signature. A letter from the chief lawenforcement officer — or other official ofsimilar stature — is likely to receive higherreadership than the average “direct mail” letterin a landlord’s mailbox. Results show that sucha letter can produce a sign-up rate of as high asone in five.

Most communities do not have comprehensivedatabases of owners of rental property, so thedatabase for mailing the “Chief’s letter” willneed to be created. In Portland, this is achievedfrom the property tax database by selectingowners of residential properties (within thetargeted area) for which the property addressand the tax-billing address are different. Onceduplicate names and names of past trainees havebeen removed from the list, letters go out toeach listed property owner.

Similar letters, as appropriate, should also besent to all local real estate and propertymanagement companies, and to residentmanagers of apartment complexes in all targetedareas.

The Appendix includes an example ofPortland’s letter to rental property owners.While this letter uses a local ordinance as ameans of motivating the landlord to attend thetraining, the presence of such an ordinance isnot required to create a powerful marketingeffect. Local ordinances, state laws, or federalseizure laws could all be used as examples ofthe liabilities associated with permitting drug orother illegal activity on rental property.

• Media exposure. This is especiallyimportant when the program is new. Mediaexposure for the initial trainings should result ina large number of sign-ups. As the programcontinues, media coverage will tend to drawfewer landlords to the course, though it willcontinue to spread the word to landlords with

properties outside the specific areas targeted fornotification through the Chief’s letter.

• Other sources. News of upcoming trainingsshould also be spread through a variety of otheravenues, such as property managementassociations, community-based organizations,letters to landlords from the narcotic units of thelocal police, and general word-of-mouth.Results show that significant numbers oftrainees are also generated through thesechannels.

One of the more innovative examples of otherways to market the training is from the City ofMilwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition to using theletter campaign, the Milwaukee LandlordTraining Program has been able to leverageresources by encouraging community-basedorganizations to “sponsor” a training in theirneighborhood. Sponsoring organizations aretypically asked to conduct some local outreachfor the training event, provide training space,supply refreshments for trainees, and assist withtraining logistics.

While these “other sources” are important, theyshould not be used to the exclusion of acomprehensive marketing effort such as theletter campaign. Law enforcement agenciesmay be tempted to save money by relying solelyon community associations or local propertymanagement associations to spread the word.As in Milwaukee, these approaches can andshould be used in addition to the lettercampaign. However, without the lettercampaign, it will not be possible to produce thehigh volume and broad cross-section oflandlords needed to make a lasting impact on thecommunity. Property management associationstypically represent only a small percentage ofthe landlords in the community, and community-based organizations are often less likely than alaw enforcement agency to have the resources orvolunteer time available for systematic contactof every rental property owner in their area.

Law enforcement managers should also bewareof the temptation to rely only on word-of-mouth,even if it produces substantial numbers oftrainees. Such action can move a program away


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from a focus on serving the whole communityand toward an emphasis on serving professionalproperty managers as a constituency separatefrom residents. The potential problem is thatlandlords who most need the training are oftenthe least likely to hear of it and attend — sincethey are often poorly networked with otherlandlords, do not generally participate incontinuing education, or are not affiliated with alocal property management association (allcommon avenues through which word-of-mouthtravels).

It is important to ask not just how manylandlords attend the training, but also whichlandlords? That is why a marketing processshould be designed to ensure the highestpossible impact in the neighborhoods that aremost harmed by illegal drug activity. Word-of-mouth marketing in low impact neighborhoodsmay be sufficient. In high impactneighborhoods, more aggressive marketing isoften called for.

2. Make it easy to sign up and important toattend. Landlords will be more likely to attendif they see the program as a professionaltraining, rather than a loosely run public forumwhere they can show up or not as they please.In addition, some will be skeptical of the valueof a government-sponsored seminar. Therefore,the registration process should keep the barriersto signing up low, while also creating a sense ofprofessionalism, a sense of the value of thecourse, and a sense of obligation to attend.Recommended steps include:

• Charge little or nothing for the course.Beware of assuming that, because they areproperty owners, trainees will be willing andable to pay for the seminar. Charging the fullcost of the course to trainees would defeat thepurpose. To be sure, property managementseminars that cost from $50 to $200 are well-attended events, but they are not attended by abroad cross-section of the property managementcommunity. They are attended by the moresophisticated professionals who are least in needof the Landlord Training Program. Importanttargets for the training are “mom & pop”

landlords with just a few units and residentmanagers who are new to the rental business.The trained, career professionals will come —and benefit — but it is important to attract thatsegment of landlords who know very little aboutdealing with illegal activity and are thereforemore likely to have the problem.

Again, the goal is not to serve landlords; it is toserve the community. The community is bestserved when a high volume of landlords attendthe course. That goal is achieved by keeping thefinancial barrier to the training as low aspossible.

In Portland, the original program was offered forfree, with a $5 fee for each manual — still asmall amount. The purpose of charging the $5is as much to increase the perceived value of themanual as it is to recover the cost of publication.Some jurisdictions have been successfulcharging a fee of $10.00 to $15.00 for the courseand manual combined — hardly enough to payfor all program costs, but enough to offsetvarious direct costs of the training. Onejurisdiction that tried a fee of $25, reduced thefee after deciding that $25 appeared to be abarrier to attendance for some. Again, the issueis community impact. Regardless of whetherlandlords can afford to pay for the training,more will come if the cost is kept low.

• Make it easy to sign up. Everything aboutthe marketing and sign-up procedures shouldmake it as easy as possible to sign up for thecourse. For example, while mail-in registrationforms are easier to process, do not close thedoor on over-the-phone registration. Allowinglandlords to register in the most convenientmanner for them will assure the highestpercentage of sign-ups.

• Use confirmation letters and phone calls toencourage attendance. All landlords who signup for the course should receive a confirmationletter upon registration, and a confirming phonecall during the 48 hours prior to the trainingitself. This confirmation process has been foundto make a substantial difference to the show-uprate of trainees. The process is particularlycritical because the people most likely not to


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attend are often the least-motivated landlords —the ones who most need to hear the message ofthe training.

• Use at-the-door registration to motivatecommitment. A formal sign-in procedure isvaluable on several levels. Having participantssign-in and receive a name tag increases theprofessionalism of the training, instilling a senseof commitment and prompting them to returnthe second night (or after lunch, if an all-daytraining). It also helps provide an accurate tallyof how many attend each training session and ameans to check the spelling of names beforeprinting of certificates. A check-in process canalso serve as a mild security measure.

3. Use certificates to encourage coursecompletion and promote course awareness.Certificates of completion have proved popularwith trainees — and have acted as anotherinducement to stay until the end of the course.Also, a certificate program can help allowcontinuing education credits for real estate andproperty management licenses. Certificates aregiven only to participants who attend the fulltraining. Don’t hand them out early. Anexample of a certificate can be found in theAppendix of this monograph.

Some jurisdictions have started to promote anadditional value to receiving a certificate. Thetrainer will suggest that the certificate can beused as an additional screening tool: Traineesare instructed to post the certificate in theirrental offices and point it out to every applicant,explaining that the management has been trainedby the local police to help prevent illegalactivity and will be doing a completeverification of the application information.Such an approach can encourage applicantscontemplating illegal activity to choose not toapply. It may, however, put the jurisdiction inthe position of appearing to endorse themanagement’s specific tenant screeningapproach, something which not all jurisdictionswill want to do.

Chapter 3: RelatedProblem Solving Tools

Many problem solving innovations have provento work well with, and in addition to, theLandlord Training Program. One programcoordinator described the relationship betweenthe Landlord Training Program and otherproblem solving tools this way:

“The success of the Landlord TrainingProgram is in bringing people together whohave not worked well with each other in thepast. The program improves communitylivability by inspiring landlords to a greaterunderstanding of the value of their role inkeeping neighborhoods healthy and it savespolice officers time because they can workwith landlords who have a betterunderstanding of what to expect from police.Also, by promoting a common understandingof what it takes to keep a community healthy,the opportunities for effective problem-solving increase. Since beginning thisprogram, we have seen many new solutionstake root and grow, where previously, feweroptions were available.1”

The following are some examples of problemsolving tools that have proved to work well inconcert with, and in some cases separate from,the Landlord Training Program. Each ispresented as an example of innovations that arepossible with the program, or as additionalsolutions that can further strengthen the abilityof communities to keep illegal activity out ofrental property.

“Landlord Compacts”

The term “landlord compact” comes from thename for the approach used in Milwaukee,

1 Karin A. Long, Landlord Training Program coordinator,

Department of Building Inspection, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


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Wisconsin, but the concept is used in similarforms in Los Angeles, California; Tucson,Arizona; in Beaverton and Portland, Oregon,and certainly in other jurisdictions as well.

Milwaukee’s Landlord Compacts are groups oflandlords who own houses and apartments in aspecific neighborhood and work with each other— and police — to stop illegal activity in thearea. They meet on a regular basis and workjointly to prevent problem tenants from stayingin a neighborhood. They develop sharedstandards for the prevention of illegal activityand develop partnership agreements with policeto accomplish such actions as improving theability of police to enforce no trespassing/noloitering rules on non-residents in the commonareas of rental property. In Milwaukee, someLandlord Compacts have also worked to takelegal action against other landlords whochronically permit dangerous and illegal activityon their property.

In Beaverton, Oregon the emphasis is onmonthly meetings and information sharing.Regular meeting topics include more in-depthreview of Landlord Training Program topics,sharing information about tenants involved inillegal activity, and improving the historicallystrained relationship between resident managersand police officers. Frequently, meetingsinclude diagnosing a “case study” — taking aparticular crime problem at a participant’sproperty and examining both how it can beresolved and what could have been done toprevent it.

Milwaukee’s Partnership withLenders

The Milwaukee Department of BuildingInspection, in partnership with the MilwaukeePolice Department replicated the LandlordTraining Program as it was originally designedin Portland. In Milwaukee, problem rentalproperties are most likely to be in duplexes,single family dwellings, and small multi-familyproperties. To address one element of theproblem, the City of Milwaukee has built apartnership with mortgage providers. Some

lending institutions now require completion ofMilwaukee’s Landlord Training Program priorto approval of a loan for rental property.Furthermore, two City-sponsored loan programsnow require training completion prior to loanapproval: “Duplex as a Starter Home” and “Buyin Your Neighborhood.” One is a programdesigned to encourage owner-occupancy ofduplex housing; the other is designed toencourage ownership of rentals by people wholive in the immediate neighborhood. The Cityrequires completion of the training prior toproviding loans under these programs. Thebenefit to all parties is clear: owners are betterskilled to manage property appropriately, goodtenants enjoy more responsive landlords, and thecommunity is better protected from the threat ofillegal activity in their neighborhood.

“Three-Phase” CertificationPrograms

Some police departments have begun using avariation of the Landlord Training Program withan added twist: in addition to rewardinglandlords with a certificate for attending thetraining, landlords are also given two morecertificates for completing certain stepssuggested in the training. Such “three-phase”programs are much more resource-intensive, butcan be valuable for jurisdictions that want tomake the commitment.

In contrast to the core program, “three-phase”programs are designed to optimize impact inapartment complexes that are large enough tohave resident managers and de-emphasizeapproaches targeted to smaller unit housing,such as 12-plexes, 8-plexes, and single familyunits.

The three-phase “certification” process includesthe following:

1. The first certificate is received forcompletion of an adaptation of the LandlordTraining Program. The training’s focus isadjusted to reflect the fact that it is the firstphase of a three-phase process. The trainerspends time explaining the value of the three


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phases and encouraging participation in all threephases.

2. The second certificate is received when aproperty meets minimum crime preventionthrough environmental design (CPTED)requirements. Examples of such minimumrequirements include:

✓ Eye viewers on the front doors of all rentalunits.

✓ Deadbolts and striker plates on the exterior(hinged) doors of all rental units.

✓ Installation of specified locks for windowsand sliding glass doors.

✓ Lighting modifications in the common areas.

✓ Trimming of trees and shrubs to ensure nobranches are below six feet and no shrubs blockviews from windows.

3. The third and final certificate is receivedwhen a manager holds a crime preventionmeeting with tenants. The manager calls themeeting and the police department conducts acrime prevention orientation for tenants whoattend.

Once all three certificates are received, a oneyear “membership” certificate is issued to theproperty that grants the manager the right todisplay the program sign on the property and usethe program logo in “for-rent” advertising. Thesigns are owned by the police department, andleased — for a small one-time fee — whichallows the police department to remove thesigns when a property is no longer incompliance with the program. Apartmentcommunities must be recertified every year (byholding another tenant meeting) in order tocontinue using the program signs.

The first three-phase program developed fromthe Landlord Training Program was designed bythe Mesa Arizona Police Department who beganby repackaging the Landlord Training Programmaterials under a different name: the “CrimeFree Multi-Housing Program.” Otherjurisdictions in Arizona have copied the Mesaname and logo, with some out-of-state

jurisdictions using it as well. Other jurisdictionshave opted to develop still other names andcustomized looks. Other programs that use athree-phase concept based on the LandlordTraining Program include Aurora, Illinois’“Police-Community Housing Program,” the Cityof San Bernardino, California’s “Crime FreeRental Housing Program,” the City of Eugene,Oregon’s “Safe At Home Initiative,” and agroup of Oregon law enforcement agencies whouse the name “Enhanced Safety Properties.”

While a three-phase program can be laborintensive, the payoff in reduced calls for servicecan be worth the effort in specific situations.Such a program may be of particular valuewhere the majority of rental-based criminalactivity is in multi-family property large enoughto have on-site resident managers.

However, site visit findings also indicate theneed for this word of caution: While someinnovations introduced in three-phase programscan be beneficial, there are elements used in theCrime Free Multi-Housing Program “phase one”training model that are in opposition to theintended community-oriented approach of theLandlord Training Program. While the originalprogram developers do endorse a three-phaseprogram concept for some situations, they donot recommend the landlord training approachused in the Crime Free Multi-Housing Programmodel.

Coordination with Civil EnforcementStrategies

Training landlords can never be considered acomplete solution to rental-based crimeproblems in a neighborhood. While suchprograms can work effectively to teach andmotivate those landlords who want to learn (themajority), it does nothing for those who areunwilling to change. That is where improvedenforcement strategies against reluctantlandlords plays a crucial role.

Many communities have created laws that allowthe jurisdiction to take civil action against aproperty owner if the owner does not abate


I-22

problems associated with drugs, prostitution,and other types of illegal activity on theproperty. Such laws typically allow forsubstantial fines, property closure for a definedperiod of time, or complete forfeiture ofproperty. Other communities combine the forceof local housing maintenance codes with othercivil and criminal enforcement strategies inorder to force a reluctant owner to act. Just afew examples of these approaches include thework of the Oakland Police Department’s BeatHealth Unit, the City of Los Angeles’“FALCON1” Narcotics Abatement Unit, theMilwaukee Police Department’s DrugAbatement Program, and the City ofAlbuquerque, New Mexico’s Code Team.

Lessons can be learned from each of thesecities, and from many other cities as well. Thelesson we wish to point out here is one gainedfrom the experience of the City of Portland,Oregon, with an ordinance first created in 1987.Commonly known as the “Specified CrimeOrdinance,” the ordinance allows for closure ofproperty for up to one year and substantial dailyfines against property owners who do not abateproblems associated with drugs, prostitution, orgambling (the “specified” crimes). However,what makes the Portland ordinance unique is notso much what the ordinance says, but how it isapplied.

While the City of Portland brings suits againstproperty owners who are in violation of theordinance, it also sends warning letters toowners whose property has been reported to bein violation. The letters do not allege thepresence of illegal activity on the property —

1 “Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and

Neighborhoods.” The FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit,organized in 1990, is comprised of personnel from the LosAngeles Police Department, City Attorney’s Office, andDepartment of Building and Safety. The program’s fourmajor objectives include: 1) eliminating narcotics nuisancelocations by encouraging cooperation of property owners,filing narcotics abatement lawsuits, and seizing real property;2) establishing an integrated network of law enforcement andgovernmental agencies, community-based organizations, andconcerned citizens; 3) providing neighborhood crimeprevention and education programs to residents andbusinesses in targeted areas; and 4) fostering communitycoalitions among property owners, tenants, residents, andbusiness owners.

they report to the owner, with a copy to theoccupant, the fact that complaints have beenreceived and that, should police confirm thecomplaints as accurate, that such a finding couldpotentially lead to legal action. The letterssimply inform the reader that complaints havebeen received — they do not allege that illegalactivity is occurring.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Drug and ViceDivision sends out the warning letters whensufficient credible complaints have been loggedor when patrol officers report suspicions of thedrug activity and request that a letter be sent.2

Considerable care is taken to ensure thatwarning letters are only sent when sufficient,credible complaints have been received. In anaverage year the city begins full legal actionagainst 15 to 20 property owners, but sendswarning letters to as many as 500.3 Because ofthe willingness of the City to report the fact ofhaving received complaints to both owners andoccupants, many neighborhoods in Portlandhave gained relief from the impact of a localdrug house before the cost in neighborhooddeterioration became extreme. By using thewarning letter process, the City of Portland hasimplemented a system that intervenes earlier inthe destructive cycle of neighborhood decay,thus avoiding one of the biggest problemsassociated with over-reliance on traditionalenforcement strategies: having the solutionarrive too late to benefit the healthy communitythat once thrived, but has already packed up andmoved away.

The connection to the Landlord TrainingProgram is straight forward: many who receivewarning letters are referred to the training.Also, as part of the effort to market thetrainings, all rental owners who are invited tothe training are reminded of the power of theSpecified Crime Ordinance and their obligationto stop illegal activity on their property. In theinitial years of training implementation, whenlandlords were particularly skeptical of

2 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Police Department, also conducts a

warning letter program. See Appendix for more references.3 For comparison purposes, note that Portland has a city

population of approximately 500,000.


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government-sponsored trainings, the presence ofthe Specified Crime Ordinance provided astrong additional motivator for participants toattend. In effect, the combination of improvedcivil enforcement strategies combined with theoffer of landlord training provides both “stick”and “carrot” for enrolling landlords in becomingpart of the solution to neighborhood crimeproblems.

Training of Officers

Traditionally, police officers are trained to treatany matter that includes the application of civillaw as a hands-off issue. The essential legalconcern is that police will inappropriately takesides — for example, supporting the rights ofproperty owners over the rights of tenants.However, a community-oriented approachrequires that police address problems that fosterthe growth of crime, fear, and disorder in acommunity. Whether the solution lies in anissue that is regulated by criminal law, civil law,or a simple expectation of human decency, theofficer’s choices must be guided by the need toreduce crime and maintain order and not by thesimple strength of the opportunity to make anarrest.

Training police officers to work differently withlandlords and tenants is one of many ways thatpolice across the country are asking those who“enforce” civil laws to become stronger partnersin efforts to reduce crime.

For example, many cities have strengthened thepartnership between building code enforcementand police — Oakland, California; Milwaukee,Wisconsin; and Albuquerque, New Mexicobeing just three of many examples. In effect,these building code enforcement efforts arebased on the recognition of the relationshipbetween poor property management andenvironments that promote drug and gangactivity in residential neighborhoods. To put itin the terminology of civil law, these effortshelp enforce the right of tenants to have decentand safe living conditions.

The Landlord Training Program is another partof the same approach, based on the recognitionthat bad tenants also contribute to anenvironment of drug and gang activity. Traininglandlords to be better managers for their goodtenants, and stricter against bad tenant behaviorshould be something that all law-abidingcitizens can agree on. To put it in theterminology of the civil law, the LandlordTraining Program helps enforce the right oflandlords, neighbors, and other tenants to livefree from the threat of tenants who engage in, orpermit, illegal activity on or near theirresidence.

When officers are trained in Landlord TrainingProgram techniques, they are first shown thatmany tenant/drug activity situations arepreventable through the application of effectiveproperty management. Then they are trained inapproaches for dealing with problems at rentalproperty that assume the involvement of bothowners and occupants. In one training, put onby the Gresham, Oregon Police Department,officers are shown the relationship betweencommon criminal problems and the comparablecivil violations as defined in the state’slandlord/tenant law.

One example: officers are called to the sameplace night after night because tenants arechronically engaging in fights, shoutingmatches, loud parties or other disruptivebehavior at all hours. In addition to anycriminal laws that are being violated, tenants arerequired by most state landlord/tenant laws torefrain from disturbing the neighbor’s peace.Why not let the landlord know? It’s what anygood neighbor would do. There is no reasonwhy an officer shouldn’t be expected to do thesame.

Showing officers the relationship betweendisturbance calls and landlord/tenant lawviolations can help promote a strongercommunications loop between law enforcementand landlords and potentially offer anotheravenue for restoring order to a neighborhoodmore quickly.

To oversimplify, police have not helped theircommunities by disregarding most


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landlord/tenant disputes with the classicexpression, “It’s a civil matter. We don’t dealwith that.” Likewise civilians (landlords,tenants, or owner-occupants) have harmed theircommunities by assuming the reverse — thatcrime is purely a police matter. As confusedlandlords have said many times, “The neighborssaid my tenants are dealing drugs, so I called thepolice and they will take it from there.”

Too often, police have not worked on a problembecause they inaccurately see the issue asstrictly civil in nature, while too often civiliansavoid working on a problem because theyinaccurately see the issue as strictly criminal.The message of the program to both policeofficers and civilians is this: “If it is harming thecommunity, it is incumbent on both groups tofind ways to fix it.”

In this regard, the program resonates stronglywith the values found in a famous quote fromSir Robert Peel, who in 1829 described the roleof police this way:

“The police are the public; the public are thepolice. The police are only members of thepublic who are paid to give full-timeattention to duties that are incumbent onevery citizen in the interest of communitywelfare and existence.”

That’s the point of the program as well: it isnever a question of determining whether policeor civilians are more to blame for a problem thatharms the community welfare. The point of theprogram is to show both police and civiliansmore effective ways to solve rental-based crimeproblems by giving them the tools to do so.

Landlord Training Monograph Section II: Participants’ Manual

Section II: Participants’ Manual

The following section reproduces, verbatim, the national version of the manual that landlords receive atthe training, including cover pages, title pages, and introductions. It is provided in this, a monograph forlaw enforcement, because it is one of the simplest ways to show, directly, the content, scope, andparadigm of the Landlord Training Program.

As described on page I-10, this manual can be used directly to train landlords, or can be further adaptedfor local state law in order to provide a more tailored document for a local jurisdiction.

Landlord Training Monograph Section II: Participants’ Manual

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Landlord Training Monograph Appendix

A-1

APPENDIX


A-2

Sample letter for manual draft review, as used in Milwaukee :

[DATE]

Dear reviewer:

The following draft of the City of Milwaukee’s Landlord Training Program is based on interviews withmany organizations and individuals, including landlords, management associations, private attorneys,tenant advocates, housing authority personnel, narcotics detectives, crime prevention officers, DrugAbatement Program staff and many others. Your review of this draft is a crucial part of its development.We genuinely desire feedback on the manual — from the minor points to the grand design. Mark it upor yellow tab it all you want, and then mail it back to us.

Unless you like writing letters, feel free to call and discuss any longer comments by phone. You maygive your feedback to [PROGRAM MANAGER, DEPARTMENT, NUMBER]. Please respond by[DATE].

It is unlikely that we will be able to implement every suggestion, but we will listen to them all and usemany. Also, each person reviewing this has a different set of expertise — feel free to comment only onthe area that interests you, or to comment on all of it.

Please make no copies of the material, nor even consider the information legally accurate. Thedocument is being provided to you for the exclusive purpose of gaining your feedback and not for thepurpose of disseminating information. While it is based on our best understanding of the scope of alandlord’s rights, responsibilities, and options, some elements may be legally inaccurate and somerecommendations not appropriate. A final version will be out soon. Please wait for it.

The current draft, while relatively error free, has not been professionally proof read, so some surprisingerrors may pop up. The final version will be clean. At this point, the live training and marketingstrategy will begin to take shape while feedback on the manual comes in. Thank you for your support onthis project.

Sincerely,

[SIGNED BY PROGRAM MANAGER]


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Sample “Chief’s Letter” as used in Portland:

Dear Property Owner:

Our records indicate that you own rental property in Portland. Because of the problems associatedwith drug activity in rental housing, I am writing to you and other rental owners to invite you to aseminar on how landlords and property managers can keep illegal activity out of their units.

To date, over 7,000 landlords and property managers have attended the Landlord Training Program inother areas of the city. Now that the program is being offered for landlords in your neighborhood, Iurge you to take advantage of it.

This program is part of an effort to stop drug activity in residential neighborhoods. While we use theSpecified Crime Ordinance to fine owners and close property in cases where the landlord has alloweddrug dealing, distribution, or manufacturing on the property, we would prefer to work with landlordsto ensure problems never reach this level. Those who use techniques from the Landlord TrainingProgram tell us the rewards outweigh the costs, and include:

• A stabilized, more satisfied tenant base, with increased demand for rentals.

• Lower maintenance and repair costs.

• Improved property values.

• Improved level of personal safety for both tenants and neighbors.

• Peace of mind from spending less time on crisis control.

Reactions from those who have taken the course are very positive. Landlords tell us the courseprovided them with screening tips they hadn’t heard before, or helped them deal successfully withtenants involved in illegal activity. A recent survey indicates that over 90% of landlords who attendthe training make changes in the way they manage their property as a result. The program is aneffective Community Policing tool.

The attached pages provide information about the training, including the times and locations ofupcoming seminars. All locations provide disability access. Please select the date(s) that fit yourschedule, and register by mailing back the enclosed form. If you do not have a registration form, youmay sign up by calling the Planning & Support Division at (503) 823-0283 between 9:00 a.m. and4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Your attendance is encouraged. We wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important.

Very truly yours,

CHARLES A. MOOSE Chief of Police


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Sample Information Page: Schedule is generally shown on reverse side:

Landlord Training Program: Information PageThe Landlord Training Program is designed to help owners and managers keep illegal drug activity andother criminal activity off their property. The content of the course has been developed through aprocess of intensive research involving hundreds of organizations and individuals: landlords,management associations, private attorneys, public defenders, housing authority personnel, tenantscreening companies, narcotics detectives, district officers, and many others. The program has won theapproval of active landlords and concerned tenants alike.

The program has been adapted for [COMMUNITY] by [AGENCY] and is based on the National LandlordTraining Program, originally supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice.Funding for this series of trainings is provided by [SPONSOR NAME(S)].

Research shows that over 90% of landlords who have taken the original course agree that they feel moresecure in their ability to screen applicants, more likely to recognize warning signs of drug activity, andmore confident of their ability to evict tenants in illegal activity on the property. Of landlords who havehad to deal with drug-involved tenants after taking the course, 94% report using information from thecourse to help resolve the problem.

The training is presented in two parts in an all-day session. The training schedule is shown on thereverse side.

PART I:

� Introduction — The impact of property management on the health of a community.

� Applicant Screening — How to screen out dishonest applicants, while ensuring that honestapplicants are encouraged to apply.

� Signs of Dishonest Applicants — Tips about what to look for.

� Rental Agreements — Approaches that will strengthen your ability to evict drug house tenants.

� Ongoing Management — How to manage property in a way that discourages illegal behavior andensures early warning should it occur.

� Partnerships with Residents — How to work with your tenants and property neighbors to keepillegal activity out of the neighborhood as effectively, and easily, as possible.

PART II:

� Preparing the property/“CPTED”. How to use the concepts of “crime prevention throughenvironmental design” to reduce the likelihood of crime occurring on, or near, your rentals.

� Warning Signs of Drug Activity — How to recognize the drugs and the activity.

� Eviction — The options, the process, the practical application in drug house situations.

� Working With the Police — What to expect, what not to expect, how to get maximumcooperation.

� About Section 8 (Subsidized Housing) — The rights and responsibilities are somewhat differentfrom typical private rentals. Success is found by understanding the differences.


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Sample Schedule Page: Generally shown on back of information page.

Landlord Training Program:Dates, Time, Location(s)

DATES: [DAY OF WEEK, DATE]

TIMES: Registration begins at [TIME ]

Training starts PROMPTLY at [TIME ] and will run until [TIME ] with a onehour lunch break about noon.

LOCATION[S]:

LUNCH: [On your own — a selection of restaurants are nearby] or [To be provided]

PARKING:

CALL : Please call [CONTACT , PHONE NUMBER] or fax the attached registration formto [FAX NUMBER ], so we can reserve your space today.

MAP TO LOCATION OF TRAINING , IF NEEDED

Thank you. We wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important.


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Sample Registration Form :

Landlord Training Program: Registration

_______________________________________________________ ________________ Training date and location Number attending_______________________________________________________________________________

Name(s)_______________________________________________________________________________

Company_______________________________________________________________________________

Street/PO Box_______________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip_______________________________________________________________________________

Business/Daytime Phone

Number of units responsible for:

___ Number within the City of [NAME]

___ Number outside the City of [NAME]

Prior to coming to the training, did you (check all that apply)

___ Receive a letter from the Police regarding this training

___ Hear about it through the news media

___ Hear about it through a rental housing association

___ Hear about it from friends, colleagues, or acquaintances

Return this form to :

Landlord Training Program[Agency address]


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Sample Confirmation Letter :

Dear Property Owner or Manager:

As you requested, we have reserved space for you in the [DATE] session of the Landlord TrainingProgram. This training will be held at the [LOCATION, ADDRESS]. Sign-in for the training willbegin at [TIME] with the training itself running from [TIME] to [TIME].

Feedback from earlier trainings shows the program is of real, practical use to those who attend. Theopportunity to hear ideas from other property managers, to discuss techniques presented in thetraining, and to receive written reference materials has proved a successful combination.

If, for any reason, you are not planning to attend, please call in advance and let us know. Demand forthe training has been high, and we would rather fill available space from a waiting list than have seatsgo empty.

We look forward to seeing you on [DATE]!

Sincerely,

[SIGNED BY PROGRAM MANAGER]

If you are a person with a disability and need accommodation, please call [NUMBER] (voice) or[NUMBER] (TDD).


A-8

Sample Certificate of Completion .

Neighbors, Landlords, and Law Enforcement in Partnership for Healthy Communities

completed the City of Portland's seven hour

Landlord Training Program"Keeping illegal activity out of rental property"

Vera Katz,Mayor

Charles A. Moose,Chief of Police


A-9

Sample Evaluation Forms

Landlord Training Program:

Post-Training Questionnaire

DATE(S) OF TRAINING:____________________

1A. Total number of units responsible for:_____

1B. Number of those units which are within [jurisdiction] limits:_____

2A. In which one part of the [jurisdiction] area do you have the most units? (�� )

_____Northwest [or other appropriate geographic division]_____Southwest_____Northeast_____Southeast_____Outside of [jurisdiction] (Specify:)___________________

2B. Where do you currently live?

_____Northwest [or other appropriate geographic division]_____Southwest_____Northeast_____Southeast_____Outside of [jurisdiction] (Specify:)___________________

3A. To the best of your knowledge, in the past two years, have you had problems with tenants involvedin drug activity?

_____Yes _____No

3B. To the best of your knowledge, do you believe you currently have tenants who are involved in themanufacture or delivery of illegal drugs?

_____Yes _____No

3C. Have you ever had a Methamphetamine Lab on any of your properties?

_____Yes _____No


A-10

4. Please rate the course you just took along the following criteria (�� ):

A. Gave me information or ideas that I didn't already know.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

B. Provided practical information that I can actually use.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

C. Will help me prevent applicants involved in drug activity from renting my property.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

D. Will help me deal with drug house situations should they occur on my property.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

E. Was a worthwhile training program for me - I consider it time well spent.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

F. Increased my awareness of the problems of methamphetamine manufacturing on rental property.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

G. Gave a clear description of what steps I should take in the initial period after discovering amethamphetamine lab on my property.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

5. As a result of taking this training, do you plan to make changes in the way you manage property?

_____Definitely

_____Probably

_____Probably not

6. Which aspects of the training, if any, did you find particularly valuable? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


A-11

7. Which aspects of the training, if any, did you find not valuable? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. Please rate the training manual on the following criteria:

A. A valuable "plain English" reference source.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

B. Provides important information that I can use to keep illegal activity off my property.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4��

9. Please include any other comments regarding the training in the space below:

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

10. (��) Please include any advice you may have for agencies that impact your business (PoliceBureau, Bureau of Buildings, Courts, Legislative, Legal Aid, Housing Authority of Portland, Others)?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

11. (��)

Name ___________________________________________

Daytime phone number _____________________________

Thanks for your participation!


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Landlord Training Program:

Six Month Follow-Up Evaluation

Please take a few minutes to fill in this questionnaire and return it in the postage prepaid envelope. Theinformation you provide will be crucial to future planning.

1. Last [DATE], you attended the Landlord Training Program. Did you attend the entire session - fromthe introduction and discussion of applicant screening to the conclusion and discussion of the role ofthe Police and drug house evictions?

_____Attended entire training

_____Attended partial training

2A. Please indicate the total number of rental units you are responsible for:

_____Units

2B. For how many years have you been a landlord or property manager? (�� )

_____Years

3A. To the best of your knowledge, in the past two years, have you had problems with tenants involved indrug activity?

_____Yes _____No

3B. To the best of your knowledge, do you believe you currently have tenants who are involved in themanufacture or delivery of illegal drugs?

_____Yes _____No

4A. As a result of taking the training, have you made changes in the way you manage your rental property?

_____Yes _____No


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4B. What changes, if any, have you made? (�� )

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5A. Since taking the training, have you had to deal with problems associated with suspicions of drug orother illegal activity on your property?

_____Yes _____No (� �� !� �� " �� #)

5B. If yes, did information from the Landlord Training Program help you address the situation?

_____Yes _____No

6. Which of the following actions, if any, have you taken since attending the course?

A. Examined the visibility of my rental unit(s) and made improvements if necessary (e.g. trim backshrubbery, increase outdoor lighting, or similar actions).

_____Yes _____No

B. Developed or revised written tenant applicant criteria based on ideas discussed in the course.

_____Yes _____No _____Not Applicable (No tenantturnover since taking the course)

C. Used advice from the training to make other adjustments in the way I approach applicantscreening.

_____Yes _____No _____Not Applicable (No tenantturnover since taking the course)

D. Inspected property more carefully or more frequently than I would have prior to taking thetraining.

_____Yes _____No

E. Traded phone numbers with property neighbors.

_____Yes _____No

F. Begun work on apartment watches.

_____Yes _____No _____Not Applicable (Renting singlefamily unit$s% only)


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G. Purchased updated forms to match current landlord tenant law.

_____Yes _____No

H. Used other ideas expressed in the training to make adjustments in the way I manage property.

_____Yes _____No

7. Please circle whether you agree or disagree with the following statements:

A. The Landlord Training Program increased my understanding of the role I can play in reducing theimpact of drug activity on residential neighborhoods.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4�&�� &�' �&�� (�&�� (�&�� &�'

B. As a result of the Program, I feel more confident in my ability to screen applicants.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4�&�� &�' �&�� (�&�� (�&�� &�'

C. As a result of the Program, I will be more likely to recognize drug activity on my property should itoccur.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4�&�� &�' �&�� (�&�� (�&�� &�'

D. As a result of the Program, I have a better understanding of how the eviction process works and,should I need to use it, would be more likely to use it correctly.

1...................................... 2...................................... 3...................................... 4�&�� &�' �&�� (�&�� (�&�� &�'

8. Please include any other comments regarding the training in the space below:

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. (��)Name ___________________________________________

Daytime phone number _____________________________

Thanks for your participation!


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References and Resources

As of the first quarter of 1999, over 400 jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada have received permission toadapt the Landlord Training Program. The following are examples of a selection of resources who havea depth of experience with the original program or its variations:

• Community Policing Services, Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., 319 SW Washington, Suite 802,Portland, Oregon 97204. (503) 221-2005. E-mail to: [email protected]. CDRI handles all licenserequests, typically for no charge. Many answers about licensing questions and other program issuescan be found by visiting: http://www.cdri.com. CDRI can answer questions about the program on atime-available basis and can provide referrals to agencies and organizations that may also be able tooffer technical assistance. Also, as the original program developers, CDRI is available to assistdirectly with program design and implementation, but can only respond to a limited number of suchrequests per year.

• Planning & Support Division, Portland Police Bureau, 1111 SW 2nd Avenue, Room 1552, Portland,Oregon 97204. (503) 823-0283. This is the sponsor of the original Landlord Training Program. In1998 the program in Portland became a joint partnership between the Portland Police Bureau and theCity of Portland’s Bureau of Buildings. The Bureau of Buildings now manages all LandlordTraining Program elements and can provide information on local program status. (503) 823-7955.

• Landlord Training Program, Department of Building Inspection, City of Milwaukee, Room 1008Municipal Building, 841 North Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. (414) 286-2954.Milwaukee has a depth of experience in the original Landlord Training Program model and is anexcellent resource for gaining advice on program development. Milwaukee’s manual has beenapproved as a basis for adaptation by other Wisconsin jurisdictions.

• Landlord Training Program, Community Resource Team, Beaverton Police Department, DavidG. Bishop, Chief, 4755 SW Griffith Drive, Beaverton, Oregon 97076-4755. (503) 526-2561.Provides Landlord Training, monthly “active participation” meetings, and a range of innovativeproblem solving techniques for addressing chronic problems on rental property. Also experienced indeveloping the Enhanced Safety Properties Program.

• Jackson County Missouri Landlord Training Program, Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office,Jackson County Missouri, 415 East 12th, 10th Floor, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. (816) 881-3555.Provides the Landlord Training Program and implements a variety of innovative problem solvingtechniques for addressing chronic problems on rental property. Has a depth of expertise in dealingwith problems associated with methamphetamine labs.

• Crime Free Rental Housing Program, City of San Bernardino Police Department, 710 North DStreet, 1st Floor, San Bernardino, California 92410. (909) 388-4830. Has developed a manual andprogram, based on the original, with a 3-phase certification element added. The City of SanBernardino’s original manual has been approved for adaptation by other California jurisdictions.

• Department of Community Development, City of Syracuse, 233 East Washington Street, Syracuse,New York 13202. Phone: (315) 448-8100. Published a tailored Landlord Training Program manualbased on New York law and City of Syracuse-specific issues in 1998. Familiar with the challengesof establishing a program in the state of New York.

http://www.cdri.com


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• Landlord Training Program, Oakland Police Department, Beat Health Unit 455 Seventh Street,Oakland, California 94607. (510) 615-5808. One of the earliest to experiment with adapting theprogram, Oakland has had considerable experience in providing its version of the Landlord TrainingProgram.

• Tucson Police Department, Community Services Section, 270 S. Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona85701-1917. (520) 791-4450. Wrote the original Arizona version of the Landlord Training Programmanual. Now provides a version of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program. Has considerableexperience with the challenges of developing a local training.

• Seattle Neighborhood Group, 1904 3rd Avenue, #614, Seattle, Washington 98101-1100. (206)323-9666. Washington area law enforcement agencies will find the Seattle Neighborhood Group’sLandlord Training Program manual to be carefully developed adaptation. It has been approved foradaptation by other Washington State jurisdictions.

• Landlord Training Program, Austin Police Department, City of Austin, Texas, 12425 LamplightVillage Avenue, Austin, Texas 78758. (512) 834-7906. A host city for the 1996 train-the-trainerprograms with experience in providing the trainings.

• Rental Management Training Program, Baltimore County Police Department, Baltimore County,Maryland, 700 East Joppa Road, Towson, Maryland 21286-5501. (410) 887-2214. A host agencyfor the 1996 train-the-trainer programs with experience in providing the trainings.

• FALCON Narcotic Abatement Unit, City Attorney’s Office, City of Los Angeles, California, 1645Corinth Avenue, Room 203, West Los Angeles, California 90025. (310) 575-8552. A host city forthe 1996 train-the-trainer programs, the City of Los Angeles has not developed a training programdirectly as of the printing of the first edition of this Monograph. The address provided here is for theFALCON Drug Abatement Unit which has a depth of experience in dealing with residential-baseddrug and gang activity and may be involved in the development of an Los Angeles-based LandlordTraining Program in partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los AngelesHousing Department.

• Aurora Police-Community Housing Program, Aurora Police Department, 350 N. River Street,Aurora, Illinois 60506. (708) 859-1700. Provides the Landlord Training Program under the name“Police-Community Housing Program.”

Documents

Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property · Keeping Drug Activity out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs MONOGRAPH Third Edition, January