The Long Beach Police Department’s Apartment Watch program was developed in 1987 to combat criminal activity associated with apartment dwellings. It was recognized that a majority of problems on and around these properties stemmed from people loitering and trespassing to conduct drug dealing and participate in gang activity.
The program originated under Long Beach Municipal Code 9.42.010, a section which was later found by the courts to be inappropriate for enforcing trespassing on apartment properties.
The program has been resurrected utilizing California Penal Code Section 602, which prohibits trespassing and loitering on posted closed properties. With the public’s participation, the program can once again prove to be an effective tool to combat criminal and nuisance activities on apartment properties.
The Apartment Watch program is designed for apartment owners and managers to register their properties, showing tenants that they take pride in their buildings and in their tenants’ safety. Participation grants consent for the Long Beach Police Department to act on owners’ or managers’ behalf to contact individuals who are trespassing and loitering without permission.
Management representatives or tenants need only to call the LBPD’s emergency communications center and advise of the suspected trespassing. Officers will be dispatched to the location and will make contact with the subject trespassing, advising them of the law regarding trespassing and loitering. On subsequent contacts with the same subject at the same property within a six-month period, the officers will arrest the subject for trespassing.
To become an Apartment Watch participant, contact the program’s coordinator at (562) 570-7215. Leave name and mailing address to request an Apartment Watch information and registration packet.
