[Imc-tenants] [IMC] BUILDING SECURITY/DOOR LOCKING

Mon Jan 28 09:58:31 UTC 2013

Sorry to be late to the conversation on this topic:
Consistently, like clockwork, when the band who reside on that basement corner studio have their cars parked in the lot, 
the ELM St. door is always unlocked, during their evening practice sessions. 
Books to Prisoners leaves the doors unlocked during their operations.
Bike Project leaves the back south door in the basement open during their public hours.
So some kind of policy needs to be developed regarding what a tenant can or cannot do, when needing to leave doors open
for an invited public, and leaving doors open for friends [not members] who are meeting a tenant. 
As for "mercy" invites, Mike is right, not a good idea, and behavior needs to be confronted immediately.

I have noticed three to four people who have been in the building at odd times when we were not open to the public.

Changing the security code on the simplex doors an option?  

    Having dealt with this issue on and off
      myself since opening the building in 2005, I'll offer some
      insights and suggestions.

      The main point of entry that has the most effect on the greatest
      number of building users is the postal lobby. In the past, it was
      our belief that this area needed 24/7 access because of postal
      business. I seem to recall that being in the purchase agreement,
      but not sure about our current lease with the PO. If it is
      confirmed by contact with the postmaster that this is no longer
      necessary, then we should establish what hours the lobby needs to
      be open, then reconfigure the west door so it can be locked when
      the lobby is closed.  There may need to be some modification of
      access for authorized afterhours IMC/RFU/tenant use there or
      elsewhere, but that is itself complicated by other issues that
      need resolved...

      Speaking of that afterhours use, we have been very flexible about
      it with working groups and tenants. The building is zoned for
      business, so overnights in the building are already somewhat of a
      gray area, unless clearly work-related -- and not for sleeping in
      any case. Any use for sleeping, residential use of any kind --
      even by tenants with a lease -- is forbidden (or at least it was
      before in IMC leases and I don't think that's changed). One way to
      deal with this would be to lock all outside doors on a separate
      key and/or central locking system so that access to the building
      is restricted to between appropriate hours. A set closed period
      each night will likely be too inflexible, so more expensive
      individualized access with likely be needed if going that route. 

      Obviously, since the building has to provide for fire exit 24/7,
      people can stay in the building, then let people in afterhours. A
      security system tied to building access may not initially avoid
      that, but it will quickly allow identification of those
      responsible. So would having that system handle keys as access
      cards, which would log building entry individually and allow
      deactivation of access when no longer authorized . So would 24/7
      video-recording on the entry/exit doors. Some of these solutions
      probably go beyond what IMC folks are comfortable with -- and all
      will cost money -- but after almost a decade, I think it's
      starting to come down to what we must do, if the problem can't be
      solved by other less intrusive means.

      Most of these problems can be attributed to those with authorized
      IMC access permitting others who do not into the building
      afterhours. Some of it may be innocent oversights, but it's been
      too consistent a pattern over the years if it's still going on now
      to really be "innocent" oversights at this point.  It's also a
      problem which can be comprehensively solved with authroized users
      cooperation without spending tons of money on security systems. 

      I completely understand we have member/tenants who believe that
      they must help those in need, regardless of the consequences.
      Perhaps there finally need to be consequences for such abusive
      behavior toward the IMC and its members and tenants, though? In
      each and every case where someone does this, they are personally
      responsible for any thing these unauthorized folks are up to,
      because they are also compromising the efforts of the IMC to
      provide a secure, safe building even if these people turn out to
      be trustworthy. They've likely always told themselves these folks
      let in are trustworthy, but given what's been going on, their
      judgment on this is seriously flawed. 

      One thing's for sure if you are letting folks into the building
      overnight...You should brief them that it's a really bad idea to
      be pushing their unauthorized behavior/presence so far that people
      feel they're getting to the point of threatening to call law
      enforcement on them. We're generally folks who prefer more
      peaceful ways to resolve conflict. But people that stupid clearly
      aren't thinking of resolving their problem of nighttime
      accommodation by acting in that sort of reasonable manner towards
      others surprised and disturbed by their presence at odd hours. And
      it's exactly how many blocks to the cop shop...? Yeah, 2 blocks. 

      Some may bristle at the term abusive, but that's what in fact
      letting unauthorized folks into the building overnight is. Such
      use compromises the security of all other users of the building,
      as well as putting the IMC at risk as an organization. Discussions
      with them in the past seemed to bring results (I'm not going to
      name names here, but will for the BoD if requested). That may work
      or may lead to the same promises of change, but lack of it (hey,
      we've got a president in DC for that)  we've received before. Fact
      is, it's a violation of their leases and grounds for termination
      of their lease on terms that will be unfavorable to them. I'd hate
      to think that it comes down to eviction as our solution for
      dealing with society's problems of homelessness. Continuance of
      existing patterns of abuse will likely mandate such eviction,
      especially if we want to try to avoid more generally expensive and
      intrusive measures such as 24/7 video surveillance of controlled
      building entrances. Those responsible need to seriously consider
      whether that's what they intend to happen by allowing such access.

      Russell,

      The suggestions below are mostly a guide to things you could
      likely do now, while you await further guidance on whether more
      robust measures are needed. 

      I think your strategy of coming by during the night at random to
      assess the situation and provide info on what's going on is a good
      first step, although obviously a hassle for you. I think it would
      be a good idea if others can support you in this. Maybe some
      others are up overnight and could assist? I'm a victim of several
      sleeping disorders that often leave me being up at odd hours. I
      may just start dropping by myself at random overnight when I can't
      sleep, because coming in and wandering the halls I've been down
      100s of times will make me sleepy eventually -- and being so close
      it would be easy to drop by and do exactly that...and pass along
      to those who need to know what I find.

      In fact, I'd suggest that anyone other than Russell who encounters
      issues such as these to communicate them -offlist- to him, Carol,
      the BoD, or whoever they think is most appropriate to let know
      (for instance, B2P or other tenants may want someone within their
      own smaller group notified and then that person is the point
      person on this issue to represent the group higher up in the IMC
      food chain). I think we'll then have an even better idea of what's
      happening if more people are involved and there are more facts
      documented and less rumor when things happen.

      Another helpful thing would be to clearly establish what times
      each entrance is supposed to be locked, and have that clearly
      posted by each entrance. You'll likely have to check with Carol
      and/or the BoD on what those hours should be. It wouldn't surprise
      me if no one even knows what the open vs locked hours should be
      based on legitimate use, so that'll be the first step to
      officially establish in any case. That way, when unlocked doors
      are encountered, people will know that it SHOULD be locked based
      on the signage.  It should be posted on BOTH side of the door.
      Then they can use their key to lock it immediately if found
      unlocked when it shoudn't be. This will also help frustrate some
      of the abuses I've noted above with doors being left purposefully
      or irresponsibly unlocked to facilitate unauthorized access until
      that situation sorts itself out. Please note that this suggestion
      is NOT about restricting what hours people can be in the building
      for currently authorized use, but simply about which doors will be
      locked and when.

      Mike Lehman

      On 1/22/2013 9:24 AM, Barry Todd wrote:

      Russell,

      Very correct, I had to run someone out on Sunday.  They
        wouldn't leave until I actually called the police.

      On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 8:27 AM, Russell
        Barnes <gomanlevel8 at aol.com>
        wrote:

        GOOD
              MORNING,

              WE HAVE A VERY SERIOUS SECURITY PROBLEM. COMPLAINTS OF
              HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE BUILDING. IMC EMPLOYEES,
              TENANTS HAVE BEEN LEAVING MAJOR DOORS UNLOCK THAT HAS
              ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE BUILDING. I LOCK DOORS AS I GO
              THROUGH THEM FOR SECURITY REASONS.

              EVERYDAY I COME TO WORK I FIND HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE
              BUILDING. I HAVE EVEN FOUND THEM UPSTAIRS (2ND FLOOR) IN
              THE BREAK ROOM. THEY HAVE ALSO BEEN IN THE BASEMENT. I AM
              TRYING SOLVE THIS PROBLEM BY COMING IN TO WORK AT 2AM,
              3AM,4AM. I EVEN COME BACK AT VARIOUS TIMES AT NIGHT TO
              RELOCK DOORS THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT OPEN.

              WE NEED TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY.

                  RUSSELL BARNES

                  BUILDING MAINTENACE

_______________________________________________
Imc-tenants mailing list
Imc-tenants at lists.chambana.net
https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/imc-tenants 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-tenants/attachments/20130128/57d8a69b/attachment.html>