Safety Checklist for Apartments

Check Out Your Apartment
Does Your —
(1) Entry door have a deadbolt lock and peephole?
(2) Sliding glass door have a wooden rod in the track so it can't be opened and pins in the overhead frame so it can't be lifted out?
(3) Landlord or building manager tightly control all keys?

For extra security, leave a radio playing or a light on while you are gone. Always tell neighbors and the building manager when you leave for a business trip or vacation.

Check Out Your Building
(1) Is there some kind of control over who enters and leaves the building?
(2) Are walkways, entrances, parking areas, elevators, hallways, stairways, laundry rooms, and storage areas well-lighted, 24 hours a day?
(3) Are fire stairs locked from the stairwell side about the ground floor, so you can exit but no one can enter?
(4) Are mailboxes in a well-traveled, well-lighted area and do they have good locks?
(5) Are things well maintained--are burnt-out lights fixed properly, shrubs trimmed, trash and snow removed?

Check Out the Neighbors
(1) Get to know your neighbors. Join or organize an Apartment Watch group so neighbors can look out for and help each other.
(2) If you live in a large building or complex, think about a tenant patrol that watches for crime around the building, provides escort services for the elderly and handicapped, and monitors coming and going in the lobby.
(3) Work with landlords to sponsor social events for tenants--a Sunday breakfast, a picnic, a movie day.
(4) Look beyond problems to root causes--does your building need a better playground, a social evening for teens, a tenant association, need landscaping?
(5) Work with the landlord for changes that make everyone proud of where they live.