Carrollton Cracks Down on Crime-Ridden Apartments

Mayor Marchant makes good on campaign slogan

City leaders in Carrollton have approved an ordinance to set rules and guidelines for apartment complexes to help get rid of crime, according to a report in the Carrollton Leader.
 
The ordinance is one of Mayor Matthew Marchant's main campaign initiatives, which calculates a crime ratio for each apartment complex.
 
Marchant said to get the ratio, you take the number of service calls that come from the complex, add the number of residents in the complex who have an arrest record, and then divide that number by the number of units in the complex.

"Depending on what the number is, if the complex is over a certain threshold, the complex will get entered into the crime reduction program," Marchant told the paper. "The threshold for a complex is 1.25 times the average number that is yielded for all apartments. Say the average number for apartments is 17; if your complex is 1.25 times above 17, the complex gets entered into the program."
 
Marchant said apartment complexes will have to comply with several criteria:

First, they must post a notice saying the complex is in a high-crime area. In addition, depending on how serious the crime rate is in the complex, they will have to hold crime watch meetings and conduct background checks, along with other safety precautions.

Apartments with questionable histories have six months to get in order before they will be entered into the program.
 
"There will be a penalty system for complexes that do not comply with the ordinance," Marchant told the paper. "However, we will work with the apartment complexes to make sure that the residents of Carrollton are safe."

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