Property management is no easy task. One community manager in Central Florida said she spent many late nights responding to emergency calls about safety issues in her communities. In addition to calls when an incident occurred, a good portion of her time during the day was spent scrolling through hours or days worth of footage just to find a clip of evidence for police.

Her case solidified one of the major pain points heard over and over again when speaking with property and community managers across the country — time.

As a community manager, how you spend your time during the day affects how you keep up with the daily tasks needed to manage your properties. Between scheduling maintenance for tenants to minimizing property complaints, many of your tasks require working ahead of time. We understand that while community safety is always a priority for property and community managers, many lose valuable time scrolling through security footage when a crime is committed in one of their neighborhoods.

This is where automation software comes in handy. 

Police say the most crucial time for following up on evidence is the first 48-72 hours after a crime is committed. After this period, many leads grow cold, and the chances of solving the case grow slim. Even if it takes over 24 hours for a resident to report a crime, you can quickly access supporting evidence and send it on to police without having to spend hours scrolling through footage if you have the right software.

When the Central Florida property manager installed Automatic License Plate Readers at her properties’ gates, late night emergency calls she had been receiving about cars ramming into the gates stopped, and residents told her they felt safer at night.

With web-based software that automatically reads and records license plate numbers, property managers won’t have to rely on residents’ word of mouth to gather evidence for police. Checking video footage scrolling and worrying about community safety off your to-do list during the workday opens up space to keep up with your other day-to-day duties.