Gated HOA allow armed neighborhood patrol

Helen,

Typically neighborhood watches have their own requirements. Check with your Police or Sheriff's department to see what those guidelines are. I suspect that they have the same restrictions the FL neighborhood watch program has - no firearms are to be carried while performing the duties of neighborhood watch. If the neighborhood watch is controlled by your local police/sheriff (and I expect that they are) then the HOA shouldn't have any say in how that program is ran. They can just sponsor the program or not - and I'd suggest not. Let the members organize it if they want it and keep the HOA out of it.

For the security patrol, I expect that you are using contractors vs. hiring employees (as this makes sense from a liability stand point - since the contractor would be responsible for the training, etc.). If you are using contractors, then the place to stipulate this would be in your contract with them.

What you need to understand is that irregardless of any policy, if something happens - it may or may not be headline worthy. If you've read (which gives more detail then the television) the issues around the FL incident you will discover that the HOA was not sponsoring the neighborhood watch. This was a done through the sheriff's department by a group of citizens in the area. The Sheriff Departments policy is no weapons. Guess what, an individual broke the rules, a tragic incident happened and (in my mind - at least partially for political reasons) it was picked up on the national news and became the headline it is.

As I understand it, what muddied the waters for that Association was that, at one time, the Association also paid the volunteers who were doing the neighborhood watch to document violations. This exposed the Association to some liability. Once the Sheriff Dept found out this was happening - that practice stopped.

If it makes you feel good then run the issue through your attorney and ask them to recommend the wording of the policy, because depending on how it's worded you may have someone challenge the issue on constitutional grounds. Just keep in mind, even if you do adopt a policy that isn't challenged (or wins a challenge) it's not going to prevent a similar Zimmerman issue. As that partially issue happened because an individual chose to break the rules and carried a weapon anyway.

With all that said, there are a lot of laws and policies implemented because it made people feel good but really didn't change anything.

Tim

Unless your by-laws or regulations require the HOA to provide security for homes/people, keep the HOA out of that new business.

If it does require it, then you have ample rights and opportunity to define HOW you will do that, and your board can draft standards for the security personnel, one of which would be a response standard... ie, no weapons, defend self and people only, not property, call first, don't initiate, whatever you want.

Tim,

Thanks for that information. I get most of my news off the tube and I should know that they hardly ever get the details correct.

There are few laws that prevent citizens from patroling on their own or banding together to do it. While it may deter some criminals, I suspect that most citizen patrols hassle, intimidate, and inconvenience more innocent persons than bad guys.

The potential for violence and serious injury goes hand-in-hand with any sort of citizen patrol. This applies not only to those on the lookout for criminals but also to those brown-shirt types who feel the need to go out looking for HOA rule violations. An association has little power to prevent citizen patrols but should never take part in them or encourage them. I would suggest that an association should not even allow groups to erect warning signs within the community as that implies that the HOA is sponsoring or otherwise taking part in these patrols.

Your chances of being murdered or assaulted by a family member are much greater than by a stranger. Those who are assaulted by strangers are most often involved in high-risk lifestyles, such as gang activities or drug dealing. If you live in the suburbs, your chances of being the victim of a burglary drop dramatically. Most burglars commit their crimes during the day in working-class neighborhoods (no one home) not far from their own homes. If you have an alarm system in your home, you are about 100 times more likely to set it off yourself by accident than a burglar is. Citizen patrols are almost always in the wrong place at the wrong time to catch criminals.