WOODBRIDGE, NJ - Potential renters with criminal histories could find themselves shut out of several large Woodbridge apartment complexes, the result of a new program to conduct background checks on applicants. Under a partnership between private complex owners and township police, three companies with about 16 complexes and 10,000 tenants have volunteered to participate. The initiative calls for new tenants to sign contracts that give owners strong eviction powers should the renters commit criminal offenses during the term of the lease.
"By working together to increase safety at apartment buildings and multifamily facilities, we are creating a stable tenant base, while at the same time reducing the need for township police officers to respond to emergency calls for service," Mayor John McCormac said. Woodbridge is the second town in New Jersey to target crime at private complexes through background checks and tenant contracts. Glassboro adopted similar measures last December. "New Jersey is behind the curve on this," said Glassboro Police Chief Alex Fanfarillo, a certified instructor with the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program.
The initiative, which started in Mesa, Ariz., in 1992, trains apartment managers to look for warning signs and improve safety, said Fanfarillo. The program has reached about 2,000 cities in 44 states, and has spread to countries such as Mexico, England, Nigeria and Afghanistan, according to the website of the International Crime Free Association, a nonprofit organization that administers the program.
Apartment complexes with the worst problems that adopt the program average a 70 percent reduction in police calls, said Tim Zehring, the executive director of the International Crime Free Association. Even complexes that are relatively safe experienced a 25 percent drop in calls, he said. "There're three reasons why," Zehring said. "We prevented criminals form moving in, their criminal friends don't visit and the random opportunistic criminal sees the crime free communities and goes, 'Oh man, that's not an easy target.'"
Fanfarillo said more than a dozen New Jersey towns have contacted him for more information about the program since Glassboro police started working with landlords. "It's an absolute no-brainer," he said, adding that 10 landlords in his Gloucester County borough have signed up so far. "It's successful. It's tested. It drops the crime rate."
Concerns remain, however, that the program may unfairly discriminate against ex-convicts trying to turn their lives around. "What if you had a conviction 20 years ago? Where are they going to draw the line? What criteria will be used to reject someone?" said ACLU-New Jersey Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. "We need to create environments for people to succeed."
Local officials and apartment owners in Woodbridge and Glassboro said the program has withstood challenges elsewhere. Landlords already are allowed to request financial information through credit checks, making a criminal background check a logical next step, they said. "It's not an invasion of privacy," said Frank Campisi, property manager for Capitol Management Corp., which owns the Bristol, Hamilton, Menlo Park and Kensington Gardens apartments in Woodbridge. "You'd rather know these things."
Woodbridge police Capt. Robert Hubner said officers have trained apartment managers at one company and performed site surveys to identify landscaping and lighting improvements that could improve safety. The training includes providing a list of crimes that can cause a complex to reject a tenant. They include murder, rape, sexual assault and burglary, if committed within the last 10 years.
At Kensington Gardens, the largest complex in the Fords section of Woodbridge
Source: NJ.com