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Tampa police were right to tweak controversial landlord program | Editorial
The new guidelines will help police steer clear of getting involved in evictions.
 
Meridian Apartments on N 50th St. in Tampa was one of about 100 apartment complexes that participated in Tampa Police Department's Crime-Free Multi Housing program.
Meridian Apartments on N 50th St. in Tampa was one of about 100 apartment complexes that participated in Tampa Police Department's Crime-Free Multi Housing program. [ CHRISTOPHER O'DONNELL | Times ]
This article represents the opinion of the Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board.
Published Dec. 2, 2021

The city of Tampa never had any business facilitating the evictions of tenants who had run-ins with the law. That’s why the city’s announcement Wednesday that it would retool the program was both right on the merits and promising for the constructive light it could shed on crime.

Since 2013, as a Tampa Bay Times investigation in September revealed, the Tampa Police Department had taken a hands-on role at more than 100 apartment communities, sending notices to landlords that encouraged evicting tenants who police officers stopped or arrested. The Crime-Free Multi Housing Program was marketed to landlords as a way to keep violent crime and drug and gang activity off their properties. But the Times showed that officers reported tenants after arrests for misdemeanor crimes, the arrest of juveniles and arrests that happened away from the landlords’ properties. Roughly 90 percent of the people reported were Black, records show.

Interim Police Chief Ruben Delgado said Wednesday that officers will no longer send notices to landlords, part of a relaunch of a crime prevention initiative that promises to better serve neighborhoods, businesses, apartments and residents alike. The Safety Awareness for Everyone program, or SAFE, will merge existing neighborhood watches, the crime-free program and Business Watch Tampa. It will include an online dashboard where residents, landlords and business owners can track police activity close to their properties and make anonymous tips about crime. The portal will not list the names and addresses of those arrested, but will include a link for those who want to obtain police reports that already are public record under Florida’s Sunshine Laws.

Giving residents and landlords the facts is defensible; acting as a middle-man for evictions is not. The original program was a bad idea that was sloppily executed. This change puts the onus on landlords to be responsible for their own tenants, while giving the public a fuller picture of crime in the community. That strikes the appropriate balance.

Editorials are the institutional voice of the Tampa Bay Times. The members of the Editorial Board are Editor of Editorials Graham Brink, Sherri Day, Sebastian Dortch, John Hill, Jim Verhulst and Chairman and CEO Paul Tash. Follow @TBTimes_Opinion on Twitter for more opinion news.