As the holiday shopping season wanes and daylight hours are minimal, we are reminded of the importance of parking lot safety and the continued need to be vigilant in the coming months. Typically, there’s a spike in reported thefts during and shortly after the holiday season as residents carry merchandise to and from their cars. There are things you can do to minimize the likelihood of crime and accidents in your parking lot, and reduce your liability if a crime or an accident occurs despite your best efforts to prevent it.

It’s essential to keep keys on hand so that you can enter your site’s units in an emergency. But you’re asking for trouble if you don’t keep careful track of the keys you have for this purpose. An intruder might get hold of a unit key and use it to commit a crime, such as robbery or assault, in the unit. And a court might find you liable for that crime.

Methamphetamine (meth) use has crept up the social ladder and now can be found at all social strata. The meth problem is pervasive. Meth-making operations have been uncovered in all 50 states. And according to a nationwide survey of 500 law-enforcement agencies in 45 states by the National Association of Counties (NACO), methamphetamine is the No. 1 drug cops battle today--58 percent said meth is their biggest drug problem, compared with only 19 percent for cocaine, 17 percent for pot, and 3 percent for heroin.