APD cracks down on apartment crime

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An APD program is helping to fight crime inside Austin apartment complexes by encouraging residents to report suspicious activity.

It's called the AROW program and it is short for Apartment Residents on Watch. It works like a neighborhood crime watch with a captain for each apartment building.

Residents meet once a month to talk about crime concerns and report those concerns to police. Austin police have implemented the program at several complexes in the East Riverside area and say they are seeing success.

"We just try to instill in them that this is your community- this is where you're going to be living, you have children, you have grandparents or whatever it may be that this is your community even if it is an apartment complex," said Senior Police Officer Kenny Nash.

The Austin Oaks apartments on East Riverside recently became part of the AROW program. Residents and staff at the Wildcreek apartment complex on Faro drive know firsthand how the program can work. They entered into the program in 2005.

"We have had great participation on the property it makes people more aware of their surroundings," said Community Manager, Margaret Marazzo. "It's created a great sense of community that I don't think would have been here otherwise - it makes people feel more comfortable to talk to one another."

High turnover in residents and managers is a challenge to the program, but police have seen success.

"They do look out for suspicious activity. They learn what to report and it happens- they have definitely reduced crime," said Officer Nash. "It gives the tenants and the residents in these apartment complexes a vested interest and a feeling of importance in their community."

Any apartment complex can participate in this program but APD has targeted high crime areas in the past.