Statesboro officials now have a draft for a city law to require security cameras and gates at new or remodeled apartment complexes. Meanwhile, Morris Heights, an older complex where several gunfire incidents were reported this spring, is expected to install cameras voluntarily, possibly this week.

The “Apartment Security Ordinance” was one of seven topics discussed during a mayor and council work session that began at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 20. Later, near the end of the 5:30 p.m. regular meeting, council members voted 5-0 to have City Attorney Cain Smith bring the proposed ordinance back for a public hearing July 18.

If the council approves that first reading, the ordinance could be enacted by yet another vote at a later meeting.

The discussion really began last month, in the May 16 work session where Smith presented research about what could legally be done to mandate security measures in apartment complexes.

During that session, District 2 Councilwoman Paulette Chavers expressed concerns about one long-established apartment complex in her district, Morris Heights. Then, during public comments time at the June 6 council meeting, Kevin Lewis, a resident of the Morris Street area but not of Morris Heights itself, talked about shooting incidents there.

“We seem to have a gang problem in Statesboro, and I want to know what’s in that toolbox that you as City Council have that can fix it,” Lewis said.

He said his aunt had been “almost shot in the back of her head while she was watching TV in her house,” a couple of weeks before, and that a car had been shot through the windshield and that there had been “a couple more shootings.”

His father, aunt and neighbors all wanted Lewis to see what could be done, he said.  He had talked to city officials who told him a solution involving “technology” was in the works, but what he wanted to see, he said, was for the Statesboro Police Department to have more officers and better pay and for Statesboro to “take the lead and make other cities want to follow.”

Lewis said he had seen none of “those shootings” reported in the newspaper. The incidents he described were “shots fired” incidents, but not what are generally referred to as shootings in news reports, since nobody was killed or wounded. The newspaper staff had not been immediately aware of details that made these more significant than shots simply being fired into the air.

31 days, 3 incidents

However, Chief of Police Mike Broadhead later confirmed that three incidents involving firearms occurred at Morris Heights from late April through May. In the second of those incidents, a juvenile was arrested, and Broadhead issued a letter of commendation to the officer who made the arrest. In the first and third incidents, an apartment and two cars were reportedly damaged.

In the first incident, April 30, two people exchanged “numerous shots” and police “recovered several spent shelling casings,” Broadhead stated in an email. Bullets shattered an apartment window and struck a car, he confirmed.

Then on May 5, Statesboro police received a report of a juvenile with a handgun, also in the Morris Heights area. “Officers engaged a juvenile matching that description in a foot pursuit, recovered a gun and made an arrest,” Broadhead stated.

In fact, he issued a letter of commendation to Officer Jonathan Treloar on May 12 for his actions during the May 5 incident. According to the letter, it was Treloar who pursued the juvenile, a 15-year-old boy, on foot.

At one point the juvenile suspect “stumbled and fell, and in so doing, a handgun fell out of his hoodie pocket,” the police chief wrote to Officer Treloar.  “The (subject) picked up the handgun and swung it in your direction, causing you to take immediate evasive action. The subject then turned and continued to run, later throwing the pistol down and surrendering to you. …

“Your display of professionalism and restraint is to be commended,” Broadhead wrote. “This situation was tense and rapidly evolving, and you maintained your composure throughout the incident.”

The department’s May 5 daily bulletin had described this only as an incident of someone under age 18 being found in possession of a handgun.

In the third incident, May 30, several shots were fired into an unoccupied car, Broadhead noted.

Company cooperates

In an interview last week, Broadhead said the company that owns or manages Morris Heights has been cooperating and meanwhile the Police Department has increased its visibility in the neighborhood. Morris Heights is managed by Envolve Communities LLC, based in Montgomery, Alabama.

“We’ve been working with the ownership there. They sent out a security consultant to look into installing cameras, and they’ve agreed to do that,” Broadhead said Friday.  “I think that that is on their schedule starting next week to start installing the cameras. So they’re starting to make some progress down there, and we’ve definitely been much more visible.”

He noted that the last of the confirmed incidents occurred in May. One contributing factor, according to Broadhead, had been “urban renewal” type demolition of some Pine Street properties, which displaced some residents into Morris Heights.

“That’s caused some conflicts. Fortunately, nobody’s been killed over there or anything, but there has been gunfire, mostly just random shooting into the air or shooting into a car,” Broadhead said. “But there have been people shooting at each other, they just haven’t hit each other.”

Police believe that gunfire was exchanged between two apartments in one of the earlier incidents. But officers or detectives attempting to determine who was responsible received little cooperation from residents, he said.

“So that’s under investigation, still,” Broadhead said. “I believe that neighbors know who was doing it. It’s just that they have to live there, and until we can normalize the idea that people have to give us firsthand information, it can be difficult for us to prosecute people for those kinds of offenses.”

The management’s installation of cameras in exterior or commons areas would be a matter of voluntary cooperation, as has been the case with other apartment complexes that install cameras and participate in the Police Department’s Fusus video network.

More than two years after the core system was installed, the contracted Fusus network, which allows monitoring at the SPD dispatching center, has 43 participating locations, Broadhead said last week. These include apartment complexes, businesses and some churches.

Chavers’ concerns

During the June 6 meeting, Councilwoman Chavers agreed with Lewis that something needed to be done, including having more police officers to patrol the neighborhood.

“I’ve been over there several times just to see what is actually taking place, and it really is sad, and I don’t have all the answers,” Chavers said.

“I’m looking for answers to be crafted so that we can get down to the bottom of this, but I concur with him, we do need more officers and I think that’s what we’re trying to do, get more money to hire more officers so that we can patrol that area more heavily so that everyone is safe,” she said.

Ordinance limitations

Smith, during the May work session, told the elected officials it would be problematic to require cameras or gates at existing complexes. So, the proposed ordinance, in the draft presented Tuesday, would apply only to new complexes built after the date it takes effect, to apartment complexes being renovated or modified so that a building permit is required, and to complexes that change ownership.

It also defines “apartment complex” as a tract containing 25 or more apartments, under a common ownership, for rent or lease. It would not apply to smaller apartment buildings or to condominiums with multiple owners.

Smith mentioned Park Place, a large complex on Lanier Drive with many different owners of apartments and common areas, as an example of a place the ordinance would not reach.

But each complex to which the ordinance does apply would be required to have video cameras at all vehicular entrances and exits. The cameras must be connected with Fusus or any future video collection system the SPD uses and video footage retained at least seven days and made available to the police for any investigations of crimes.

Controlled-access gates would also be required at every street entrance and exit.

Incentive program

City Manager Charles Penny recommended using $80,000 from interest Statesboro received on its share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to assist existing apartment complexes with security technology improvements.

This was not included in the ordinance draft, but Penny said it could be created as an incentive program by a separate action.