NCJ Number
162112
Date Published
1993
Length
175 pages
Annotation
This book uses actual cases to show the nature of serious security risks at hotels/motels, documents court cases to show the liability incurred by the failure of hotel/motels to maintain adequate security, and recommends measures to improve security at these facilities.
Abstract
Criminals are drawn to hotels/motels because they can expect to find easy targets for robbery, rape, theft, and even murder. Hotel/motel guests are on unfamiliar ground, often carrying cash for trip expenses, and housed in vulnerable facilities with poor security and rooms with doors and windows that are easily defeated by experienced criminals. This state of vulnerability to violence and other crimes at hotels/motels is documented in this book through case histories described in detail. Court transcripts are included not only to profile the crimes but to show how plaintiffs' attorneys develop civil cases against hotels/motels when their guests become crime victims. Civil juries, judges, and appellate courts have consistently found hotels/motels liable for failing to provide adequate security for guests who come to their facilities expecting to be safe and secure. A number of chapters discuss the steps that must be taken by individual hotels/motels and the industry as a whole to reduce the attraction of criminals to such facilities. Some recommendations are to develop and implement industry standards for the performance of guest security, to require that hotelkeepers maintain accurate records of all crimes committed upon the hotel or motel premises, to publicly disclose these records when requested by anyone seeking accommodations, and to expand the Uniform Crime reporting program to include the indexing of crimes related to hotels and motels. Security tips, including suggestions for door and window locks and peepholes, are also included.