Strata condo owners in new developments often face many security issues during the first year. If you are lucky you will not be one of the many victims of auto theft and vandalism. In the first year living in my new townhome, my car was broken into twice (once while it was parked on the street and another time while it was locked away in the underground parking) and my front windshield was smashed by a young punk.

As a member of my strata council, we deal with the topic of vandalism and theft every month it seems. We have worked with police, the city, started our own neighbourhood watch and implemented a number of security measures but we still suffer from break-ins and security breaches. As a new development, rest assured you will be a prime target for thieves because they already know what you may not know yet – how to gain access to your property! Until you figure out how to make it more difficult for them to get in you will remain on their target list.

Bottom line is that there is no foolproof method to protect your complex but here are a couple of things that we have learned that I hope will save you some time and effort:

• Report everything to the police no matter how big or small: this may not seem important but if you have multiple reports at your complex then you may get increased police patrol by car and by bike. Also the same thief that broke into your car may have broken into another complex close by and additional information gathered at your complex may help to catch a known thief.
• Make friends with people at your community police station and ask how you can help increase safety and decrease crime in your neighbourhood. Remember if given the choice people will choose to work with proactive positive people over whiners and complainers.
• Introduce a by-law that fines owners that do not wait for the parking gate to close behind them upon entry and exit. Another portion of this by-law should fine owners that do not tightly close all common doors behind them.
• Protect your copper piping: consider disguising the piping, caging it or replacing it with alternative materials because if a thief has access to it, it will be taken! Often this is a messy theft to clean up and sometimes the water damage will cause even more costly problems.
• Tell all of the residents not to keep their gate openers, or common entry keys in their cars as this can cause additional security breaches that will cost lots of money in reprogramming and re-keying.
• Encourage residents to remove all valuables from their cars including loose coins, CDs, books, papers and files. Leaving the glove box and any other compartments open and visibly empty may save you from paying a $300 deductible to have your car fixed.
• Order a ‘Lock Auto Crime Out’ sign from ICBC and fasten it to your parking gates.
• Read the attached .pdf called Stop Auto Crime in multi-residential and mixed use buildings, written and produced by ICBC.

Please post any additional tips you may have that will help your fellow strata condo owners save time, money and a bunch of grief!!!