By Maria Gray
LAPD West Los Angles Division Senior Lead Officer
During the past few years of economic hardship and recession, property managers and/or property owners have struggled to keep their rentals occupied.
As the difficult years continued, it seemed that in some cases the rental criteria or standards were lowered and tenants that were maybe once considered risky (poor credit, etc) were now being accepted in order to fill vacancies that were costing managers heavily.
The aftermath of this however, is the community is sometimes adversely affected by problematic neighbors and/or disrespectful tenants.
As a police department, we can’t enforce against disrespect or being an unpleasant neighbor, but we can take action against chronically problematic neighbors and those who are violating the law.
If you have reason to believe there is illegal activity going on, call the police immediately at the LAPD non-emergency dispatch number 877-ask-LAPD.
Also, please let me know what’s going on or what you suspect. Keep a log of what you see and when you see it. The log doesn’t have to be formal and it can be back dated to include past experiences.
Approach your trusted neighbors and ask if they have had any similar experiences or suspicions. If you wish to remain anonymous, you may call 800-222-tips or go to www.lacrimestoppers.org
If it’s an issue that’s not necessarily illegal, but there is strife going on that doesn’t seem to be going in the right direction or is difficult to resolve, the L.A. City Attorney offers a Dispute Resolution Program and Mediation to all parties involved, free of charge. If you’re interested or have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at 30469@lapd.lacity.org.
