San Bernardino rental crackdown targets crime conditions

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- San Bernardino Police have been cracking down on poorly maintained rental properties. Police explain there's a link between rundown properties and crime.

Police took tenants buy surprise on Wednesday, showing up to check on plumbing, electrical and other maintenance issues.

The crackdown on poorly maintained properties is a crime-fighting effort. Many tenants were grateful.

San Bernardino police officers showed up unannounced at the Edgehill Apartments Tuesday to inspect each and every unit for things like bad pipes, cockroaches and electrical issues.

Police say there's a correlation between crime and poorly run apartment complexes.

"Officers that are working the streets know that those poor apartment complexes, so to speak, those places that none of us would necessarily want to live because of the condition of them and because of the way that they're maintained, tend to be kind of a harboring place for crime," said San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.

Police were at the complex on July 22 investigating a murder.

At the Edgehill Apartments, police say they found well over 200 violations.

"These properties are essentially crime pockets waiting to happen," said San Bernardino City Attorney Gary Saenz.

And the city says they're going to get a lot tougher on these apartment complex owners than they have been in the past. If they don't make the required changes, they could eventually be forced to sell.

"That's a last resort effort. We hope we don't have to do that. It's not our desire to do that," said Saenz.

Some people aren't so sure that going after poorly run apartment complexes will make the city safer.

"You could do whatever you want to to the apartments, but this area is just a bad area; it's always been like that for years. I don't think anything can change that," said one tenant.

But others say trying to improve living complexes certainly can't hurt.

"If it looked a little better -- because if it looks a certain way, people act a certain way, you know how it is," said one tenant.