Hire private security - local Police is ignoring it

We are operators in Ohio. Break ins, squatting, vandalism, 4 time felon caught breaking into office and all we are told post more “No Trespassing” signs and the officers are not coming out anymore.
While paying property tax now I look at hiring private security on top of that to keep the property free of criminal elements. Camera system is constantly being damaged and stolen.

Anybody tried other deterrents for vacant homes that are in remodel process?
Alarm sirens you recommend?
Thank you for your input. What is this new America we are forced to live in?

My experience has been that bad tenants invite drama and bad visitors. If you clear out all of the riffraff living in the park, this bs will start to drop off. Easier said than done, but that’s really the only long term effective solution. Well maintained properties attract good tenants, and good tenants attract low drama and low crime.

Meanwhile, police have a lot of discretion over how they do their job, so trying your best to build and maintain a good relationship is really helpful. Unless the park is really big, I’m skeptical the vandalism is more expensive than what private security would cost and be able to effectively deter.

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Pick a couple of the worst tenants and evict them (hopefully non-renew their month to month lease). Make them an example of what happens when you cause problems. This will get peoples attention and get rid of your trouble makers.

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Lighting, signage, cameras, calls to the police, starting a neighborhood watch program with a good tenant at the middle. Those are all good ideas.

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Camera, alarms, etc. are tough to monitor and enforce. No trespassing orders, criminal prosecutions, etc. you will waste your time and never be enforced. It’s like telling somebody not to trespass on my land, otherwise I will have to tell you not to trespass on my land again. If you do trespass, then I’m going to have to tell you to not trespass again, and if the manager sees you I’m going to tell him to tell you to not to trespass, so you better not do it.

You likely know who the bad actors are, so just evict them. You don’t need any evidence to do it.

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Making efforts matters though. One of the biggest liability risks associated with park ownership is “negligent security claims.” These arise when people are assaulted, attacked on your property. When these things happen, if you’ve done little, the loss is generally everything you have. If you’ve tried to run a safe property, you do much better in court.

I agree!! Our park supposedly used to be a nice one, with good tenants. It went downhill over the years. Drug dealers were in and out, screaming couples fighting all the time, cops down there nightly, etc.

I moved in there with a travel trailer and found out quick what kind of place it was. Shortly after, it was sold and I got to meet the new owner. We talked and he said I would make a good manager. I said, “See how it goes with the girl you’re using now and maybe we’ll talk”. She didn’t last but 2 months, then the maint guy took over for a few months and couldn’t handle it and asked me to take over. I got the job and he left after a bit. Anyway, I started cleaning up the place, we were evicting 1-3 people every month. It was a start and some of the long-timers were thankful. A couple of years ago I decided to quit. Owner asked me not to, so I gave the on site part to someone else and stayed on as the office manager, doing same stuff as before except no more going to court. The new guy already lived there (he was from NY, a no-nonsense kinda guy) and boy did he clean up. Cops hardly were down there anymore. Any of them I’d speak to knew that place well, and commented how they don’t hear much of it these days.

If you don’t keep up on it, the riffraff will be back, though. We’ll be evicting a few more of them next month. We try to screen people really good now, and do background checks.

Evictions! I know its painful but the watching tenants will not change with warnings, signs etc. They will by actions or be next in court. You need to retake control. Good Luck!