Should We Have a Clery Act for Cities and Counties?
It t ook the tragic event of Jeanne Clery rape and murder to initiate the creation of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 USC § 1092(f)). Now any college or university receiving federal funds is required to disclose information about crimes on or near their campuses. So if you attend a University that receives federal aid, you should have access to crime information. But what about everyone else? Why shouldn't cities and counties have the same requirements to inform their citizens? Part of the inspiration of this post was a recent story in the Houston Chronical about a woman who successfully sued her apartment complex because her apartment company failed to notify her about a recent break-in at the apartment next to her. Shortly after renewing her lease, she was attacked in her apartment and brutally raped for 10 hours in February of 2009. In this particular case, the apartment complex was at fault part