drug dealing in community

Drug dealing is a crime which needs to be handled by the police, not the HOA.

Oh good grief. Forget the "might result in a slander" lawsuit part.

The rest of the advice is dead on, however.

Drug dealing is a criminal activity and best handled by those better equipped for such things.

We have sporadic "drug" issues here. Mostly pot selling by the grandson of a resident (and then they "test" the product down at the lake). But we have had a meth lab situation once.

I would recommend spending some time with your local district police guys. Meet with them regularly, help them understand your neighborhood and get to be friends with them.

If you can't get a Blockwatch program going, don't let that stop you from getting to know the guys who are responsible for your community's safety.

They don't mind!

In fact, I would bet that they have a designated "Community Outreach" or Liaison officer who you can schmooze.

Do you, as board members, witness the activities?

You most certainly can broach the subject with your local police district, but unless you can give specific information, then I dunno.

I do know that many police districts have anonymous Drop A Dime lines. You and several others can call that if you want.

But I really can't stress enough someone from your board getting to be buds with the local police district.

Call and find out who your Community Liaison officer is. Meet with him/her. Talk about crime trends. See if you can get on a monthly or quarterly crime report (we get an email every two weeks from our local police district that gives very detailed crime reports).

Invite him/her to come and give a small discourse at one of your meetings. Set up a special meeting where people can learn some cool things like how to identify if meth is being cooked in your neighborhood. Or how to identify and report potential drug activity.

Let them know you as people, and get to know them as people. And educate your neighborhood.

Then you'll have the answer to all your questions re: who should do what, when.

But I would not under any circumstance recommend that the board take it upon themselves to try to solve this problem through board activity only (violation notices, etc).

I only mention slander because I've heard so many stories from others. People see someone who looks different, or has tattoos, etc and thinks they are the neighborhood drug dealer. It starts as a rumor, then everyone talks about it. Evidence? None. Just people spreading rumors.

Make sure you have a good idea of whats going on before you waste the police's time. Time they could be spending on real crimes and real drug dealers.

What county you in AnnaD2?? I've been writing directly to the authorities as well informing our PM, and I am a board member too.

Barbara,

Are you saying your homeowners dont care or are too stupid to not know enough to call the police. The board has NO place in this. If I were to see someone being attacked in front of my property are you saying I should contact the board so they could bring it up at their next meeting? Or, as anyone with common sense would do, call the police.

Have had several situations with drugs. the board and managment never discussed the matter in meetings or placed any rumours or accusations in writing. Other owners asking for action were directed to contact the police about the claimed drug activity and board members did the same as homeowners.

but here is the rub. In a few of the cases it ultimately resulted in raids arrests etc., in others it did not. but in all cases there were other circumstances that were violations of the rules. In an effort to put legitimate pressure on the owners/residents the board chose to not ignore the actual rules violations noise, parking, traffic, trash, failure to maintain etc. And in at least two cases this is what finally resulted in the desired result, the vacating of the unit and therefore the end of the illegal activity.

The close "watch" the owner/resident felt by being noticed and fined on repeat associaiton rules violations made them nervous enough to in their surroundings to leave. NOthing was manufactured and they were not treated any differently than any other owner/resident.

so in the end of this story both arms worked police and the association to end the activity. when one could not the other worked. I do not believe that a board should ignore blatant rules violations if they exist because as one person wrote "they look different, have tatoos or ride a Harley" anymore than someone shoudl be treated differently because "they are a different color, wear suspenders, or have a child and are not married". A vioaltion is a violation no matter who is doing it and it shoud be addressed. But do always keep it valid and legitimate and on the up and up and never never refer to illegal criminal or civil activity that is for the police or other agencies to determine.