Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Crime in Cohousing (was) [C-L]_Basic and derived needs

[Laura Fitch, A.I.A. (lfitch]

 Pioneer Valley had a very interesting crime about five years ago.  New 
Years Eve night everyone was down at the common house for a party and 
3-4 houses had money stolen (from purses left on counter tops or out of 
guests suitcases in unlocked houses).  The thief only took half the 
money out of each wallet.  Once one theft was discovered everyone went 
home to check.  It seemed as though the thief got startled out of one 
home - nothing taken, door left open...

So, we (and the cops) had a pretty good idea it was an inside job and 
probably one of the teenagers.  You hate to jump to conclusions but 
teenagers are teenagers, and they hadn't had a chance to really grown up 
in cohousing like the younger kids have.  We had an emergency meeting in 
which the teens attended.  Then we arranged for two teen-friendly 
community members (man & woman) and someone at the local men's resource 
center to be available for a confession and to spread the word.  The 
theif confessed to the men's resource center person, who convinced him 
to write a letter of apology to the community.  

It was one of the community teens - it seems he was acting on a dare 
from friends - he had bragged that our community was so cool that nobody 
locked the doors - and they had suggested he steal!  The letter was well 
recieved, he paid back the money, and most people I think felt 
compassion and forgivenesss towards him.  

We have had other crimes.  A bicycle disappearing out of storage in the 
common house basement.  We now lock the bike storage room, and we lock 
all common house doors after 10 pm.

Money disappearing out of a money box in common house - we now write 
checks and recognize that cash lying around is just stupid.

A car stolen from the parking lot.  We have an additional motion 
activated light in that lot, but the parking lots are easy targets.  I 
think we are lucky that we have not lost more.

All in all, I feel very safe in community.  It sure is a crazy world 
beyond our immediate neighborhood.  The world needs more cohousing!

Laura

--
Laura Fitch, A.I.A.
Principal Architect

KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
110 Pulpit Hill Rd.
Amherst, MA  01002
413-549-5799
413-549-7918 (fax)

lfitch [at] krausfitch.com




Diane Simpson wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> My eyes popped out when I read this e-mail because I always thought of 
> Utah as a pretty safe place, and I certainly thought of cohousing as a 
> safe place. How many other communities have had crime problems since 
> move-in and what have you done about it? 





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