Should the HOA reveal this crime?

Our HOA comprises a urban square city block. One street’s 15-foot wide sidewalk is at the bottom of a few steps with a railing to a big landing where the fob entry device is to the large lobby of my tower.

My spouse was contacting Uber to go to the airport on or May 6 anniversary. I leaned against the steps’ railing, spouse went in the lobby for better phone reception. Our lone wheel aboard luggage piece set about 5 feet away from me. Suddenly two loud, seemingly drug-high men lurched toward me from the north on the sidewalk about 8 feet apart yelling in slurred ways to each other. Having a $600 item slung over my shoulder (not across my chest), that looked like a large purse, I immediately worried they’d try to steal it and moved closer to the doors & fob-entry phone.

One grabbed the suitcase and they ran off! One’s good facial pic was captured on a monitor. All our clothes, meds & chargers were gone for a family reunion in Oregon. Our devices & important docs were in a briefcase with my partner. We did make our plane.

We’ve never experienced any criminal episodes in 19+ years of living in this setting and walking freely to the grocers less than 2 blocks away, and to numerous other needs, restos, & entertainment.

My question: The incident has not been shared with any residents by the officers or PM & his assistant. Do you think the Board or PM should let residents know about this incident? On one hand, I’d hate to see some older residents, for instance, becoming afraid to bring their full shopping carts from the nearby grocers or carrying other retail items-- one of the high perks of living in our 'hood. On the other, perhaps, some may have become complacent about their safety and aren’t as alert as they should be.

Or, maybe there can be an article in our newsletter with tips about avoiding this type of crime without saying one actually happened? Thoughts about what's best for my community?

Did you report it to the police?

I would think giving notice about the event would be taking reasonable steps to help members avoid being the victims of criminal activity per Frances T. v. Village Green.
https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/frances-t-v-village-green-owners-assn-28425

I'm happy to see some thoughtful replies. Keep 'em coming.

For now, I'm sorry that I must have written unclearly, Shelia: My partner had the briefcase & it wasn't stolen. So our passports, credit cards, laptops & my phone were not stolen. Stolen was clothes, device chargers, toiletries & meds.

Yes, we filed a police report and they hav a great pic of the guy with our suitcase.

Kerry,

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm glad you and your spouse did not get hurt. I see no problem with sharing the story in the HOA newsletter without names if you don't want to be identified as the victim. It doesn't hurt to remind the members to be diligent of their surroundings and this is one way to capture the audience.

I'm working on replying to the useful comments to my post. You've given me. sense of direction.

But, for now to Terri's post & her Village Green citation, which is very ell-known & often cited. It, however, was a case about a crime against a resident ON the HOA premises, that owner's pleas for better lighting, and the HOA refusing. The owner was attacked a 2nd time and sued the HOA.

Terri if you want to talk about seemingly negligent & sloppy HOA boards, start a new post. I don't agree that Village Green has one iota of relevance to my incident. Recall, the crime against me was on a public sidewalk OUTside of our HOA's premises. It was NOT "foreseeable." And just because it happened once that I know of in many years does not make it "foreseeable."* My HOA's "duty of care" does NOT cover protecting residents from crime on public streets & sidewalks.

Yes, we have cameras onto extras of our buildings but they are to perform the HOA's CC&rR-required duty of protecting the common areas, e.g., from graffiti, which we also very rarely have.

I do agree that I, as a certain kind of person, do want to help my fellow residents avoid such crimes. But I also want them to enjoy the pleasures of not needing a car to buy a loaf of bread without fear. That's the Blane I'll try to create. I hope my HOA Board agrees that my article will serve our community.

More later.

*This may relate to Bill's point about statistically rare instances & complaints.

Oh, sorry, Terri: Our central CITY HOA comprises one square city block. So it's surrounded by 4 public board sidewalks & curbs & streets.

We do have cameras mounted on our HOA buildings' street -side exteriors to capture any issues caused to our buildings. They also capture the two entrances to our twin towers. They also capture the public sidewalks and would see, for example, if anyone vandalized a tree (city owned) of which there are many marching down the streets. Such footage would certainly see any crimes on the public sidewalks.

(I keep forgetting that in suburban or rural HOAs, the HOA is often responsible for the sidewalks & street they are, I guess common area. . but in all US cites I know about the streets & sidewalks in city centers are public.)

Just for informational purposes, I live in a community of about 30,000. My home is in a newly developed neighborhood within the city limits. The streets and sidewalks are owned by the City. It is the homeowners' responsibility to mow the grassy area between the curb and the sidewalk. It's also the homeowners' responsibility to keep the sidewalk cleared of snow in the wintertime. It's a bit unclear to me if the city is responsible for fixing/repairing the sidewalk. That is something that may come up in the future as the development ages and the sidewalks become cracked or uneven. I would guess that this is something the City will put way down on its priority list if they are indeed responsible.