Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Police Department has formally opened a new program designed to help commercial property owners, business owners and apartment complex owners prevent unwanted activities after business hours.
“Without authority granted by the person responsible for the property or business, the police are often not able to take action on non-criminal issues that occur on private property,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn.
Examples include non-residents and non-customers hanging out on property, littering and parking their vehicles.
The Property Watch program allows responsible persons to partner with police by authorizing the police to act on their behalf when they are not there, Lynn said.
“We didn’t design it,” Lynn said. “I heard of it with another agency, Astoria Police Department. The business community was really supportive of it. It’s the same thing we’ve been doing, but a little bit different.”
Previously, the Police Department has had an informal version of the program, in which some business owners had letters on file allowing police to trespass anyone not authorized to be on the property, Lynn said.
“The legal foundation is a signed agreement that provides the authority for the police to contact people that are on private property and ask them to leave the property,” Lynn said. The goal is to allow police to help keep property safe when the property owner is absent.
Essentially, the program gives police officers the authority of what they call a “responsible person,” typically a representative of a business or a property owner, allowing them to make decisions about whether to trespass individuals found on commercial property after hours.
Outside of the program, police face limitations when they see people on business property, Lynn said. The police can contact the individuals, but they are not obliged to talk to police if the police do not see a crime or violation.
If police believe those individuals should not be on the property but there is no criminal activity, the only option police have is to contact a responsible person, Lynn said.
The police have used the informal version of the program often, Lynn said. They have used the program for a couple of years for several businesses and longer for some vacant properties.
“Our plan is to go door to door with businesses and explain the plan,” Lynn said. Police began accepting registration into the program earlier this year. As of this week, 24 property owners have registered. “We’re just getting into the swing of it.”
Property owners can withdraw from the program at any time, Lynn said, and there is no cost to be a part of the program.
Under the program, police will not provide legal advice or evict tenants, according to a program brochure. They will not tow vehicles from private property. They will not be a “personal cop” or be able to fix or address all concerns.
The program is limited to commercial properties and businesses and is not available for residential homes.
Criteria for excluding people from a property must be posted outside of the building so that the public and officers can both see it.
Police officers may direct people to leave a property and not return for unreasonable noise, fighting, violent or threatening behavior, suspicion of having violated a law, remaining on the property for more than 20 minutes, violating curfew, unlawfully consuming or possessing alcohol or a controlled substance, damaging property, driving a vehicle in a careless or reckless way, unlawfully possessing a firearm or obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic.