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Pompano Beach Inadequate Security Claims
After an assault, robbery, shooting, sexual attack, or other violent incident, safety and medical care come first. Then another question begins: was the property reasonably secured, what did the people in control know, and which records still exist?
Miller & Jacobs helps injured people and families trace access, lighting, surveillance, prior incidents, staffing, contracts, and the losses that followed. You do not need every answer before calling.
Call 911 if danger is ongoing. The consultation is free and confidential. No attorney fee unless compensation is recovered for you.
Footage may be overwritten without the full time window.
Gate, key-fob, visitor, room-key, and patrol data can rotate.
Complaints, incidents, repairs, and staffing records may sit in separate files.
First Priority
Safety, emergency response, and treatment come before evidence.
Time Sensitive
Footage, access logs, dispatch data, and messages may not be stored long.
Liability Question
Prior incidents, complaints, broken equipment, and staffing decisions can show notice.
Control Question
Owners, managers, tenants, and vendors may hold different duties and records.
Two Questions Can Be True at Once
Negligent security does not excuse the offender. It asks whether a property owner, operator, manager, or another company failed to take reasonable precautions against a foreseeable risk.
Florida law can require the factfinder to consider everyone who contributed to the injury, so both investigations matter.
These claims fall within Miller & Jacobs' Pompano Beach premises liability practice and Pompano Beach personal injury practice.
The Criminal Investigation
Police may examine witnesses, physical evidence, messages, video, and the sequence of events.
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Incident or case number
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Witness and responding-officer details
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Arrest, charge, and court records
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Video, photographs, and physical evidence
The Property Investigation
The civil file may turn on control, notice, prior events, maintenance, contracts, and causation.
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Lighting, locks, gates, cameras, and alarms
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Security staffing, patrols, and response
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Complaints, calls, work orders, and outages
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Leases, vendor agreements, and insurance
Preserve the Record Without Putting Yourself at Risk
Do not return to an unsafe location, confront anyone, or delay care to gather proof. Once safe, accurate place, time, and contact details can help identify records before routine deletion.
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Name the exact entrance, stairwell, parking row, room, hallway, gate, or elevator.
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Keep police, property, witness, insurer, and medical contact information together.
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Save original photos, videos, messages, receipts, clothing, and access data.
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Record the property, manager, tenant, security company, parking operator, and vendors.
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Track treatment, missed work, trauma symptoms, help needed, and other changes.
Property Evidence Inventory
Time Sensitive
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Camera list, original files, timestamps, retention policy, and outage history.
Video
A
Gate, key-fob, room-key, visitor, and door-alert records.
Access
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Inspections, complaints, outages, repairs, settings, and measurements.
Lighting
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Police calls, internal reports, complaints, employee notices, and loss history.
Notice
S
Schedules, post orders, patrol scans, training, dispatch, and response.
Staffing
C
Leases, management agreements, vendor scopes, budgets, policies, and insurance.
Control
Do Not Wait for the Property to Volunteer Its Records
A useful first conversation can begin before you have the surveillance, prior incident history, security contract, or complete medical file.
The Setting Changes the Security Questions
A locked apartment gate, a hotel room key, a nightclub crowd, and a parking-garage camera serve different purposes. The investigation should fit the property.
Gates, locks, common-area lighting, visitor access, complaints, cameras, and management response.
Room keys, guest access, hallways, parking, cameras, staffing, and prior guest reports.
Lighting, sightlines, patrols, camera coverage, call systems, access points, and blind areas.
Entry screening, crowd size, staffing, alcohol service, ejections, exits, and prior disturbances.
Storefront visibility, cash risks, parking, closing procedures, cameras, staffing, and prior threats.
Visitor control, reception, badge access, parking, stairs, elevators, after-hours entry, and vendor roles.
01 / Prior Events
Police calls, incident reports, complaints, work orders, reviews, and messages may show what was known and when.
02 / Conditions
The record should separate one-time damage from recurring failures, blind areas, delayed repairs, and lost footage.
03 / Operations
Schedules, post orders, scans, dispatch, and instructions can show what was expected and what occurred.
04 / Control
Responsibility may follow the company with authority to inspect, repair, staff, warn, or restrict access.
Foreseeability Is a Records Question
Prior incidents can matter, but the analysis is not a simple crime count. Property type, location, access, warnings, operations, security promises, and surrounding conditions may all matter.
One broken light, camera, or gate does not prove a case. The full record must connect a foreseeable risk, an unreasonable security failure, and the injury.
Multifamily Properties With Five or More Units
Florida Statute 768.0706 applies to multifamily property with at least five units on a parcel. An owner or principal operator that substantially implements its measures may receive a presumption against liability for certain criminal acts.
One camera or deadbolt is not the test. The statute also addresses lighting, locks, an assessment, and training.
Important distinction: The owner or principal operator must prove substantial implementation. The statute does not create a separate private cause of action, so the full claim still needs case-specific review.
Measures Named in the Statute
Multifamily Property
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Retrievable recordings kept at least 30 days.
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At least 1.8 foot-candles at 18 inches above the parking surface from dusk to dawn.
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Common walkways, laundry rooms, areas, and porches lit from dusk to dawn.
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A deadbolt extending at least 1 inch on each unit door.
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Locks on windows, sliding doors, and other noncommunity doors.
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Locked pool gates and door viewers where specified.
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A qualifying CPTED assessment no more than three years old.
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Crime-deterrence and safety training tied to the measures.
Map Control Before Assigning Responsibility
Control may be split among owners, operators, managers, parking companies, and vendors. Contracts, daily authority, notice, repair power, and each company's role determine who needs investigation.
Property conditions, major repairs, leases, insurance, budgets, known problems, and retained control.
Daily operations, closing, staffing, customer access, events, warnings, and response.
Complaints, work orders, rules, vendor oversight, access systems, and common areas.
Post orders, patrols, screening, access systems, lighting, cameras, locks, inspections, repairs, and contract scope.
Document the Full Human Impact
No formula can value a negligent security claim. The scope depends on the injuries, treatment, trauma, work and daily-life effects, fault, coverage, and the law.
Medical
Hospital care, surgery, medication, rehabilitation, specialists, scar care, and supported future treatment.
Trauma
Therapy, medication, sleep disruption, fear, anxiety, and documented trauma effects.
Work
Missed time, job restrictions, career interruption, and supported loss of future earnings.
Daily Life
Pain, visible injury, mobility changes, household limits, and reduced daily activity.
Support
Transportation, replacement services, safety changes, caregiving, and other injury-related expenses.
Fatal Injury
When a violent incident is fatal, Florida law may permit claims for the estate and eligible survivors. Learn about wrongful-death claims →
Fault, Filing, and Preservation Are Different Clocks
A filing deadline does not control how long video, key logs, patrol scans, or business records survive. Preservation may need attention much sooner.
The incident date, property type, claimant status, defendant, legal theory, and public-entity involvement can change the analysis.
Florida Statute 768.0701 requires the factfinder in covered cases to consider the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury.
Many negligence actions have a two-year limitations period, but exceptions and other claims can use different deadlines. Read Fla. Stat. § 95.11 →
Fault can reduce recovery and may bar damages in some negligence actions when the claimant is more than 50 percent at fault.
A civil review can begin even if the offender is unknown, charges are pending, or no conviction results.
Public property can trigger added notice, procedure, and timing requirements.
Pompano Beach Headquarters
Miller & Jacobs is headquartered on South Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. You can begin by phone, online, or at the office.
The Broward Sheriff's Office Pompano Beach district page links to its Public Records Unit for incident reports and local records checks.
1600 S. Federal Highway, Suite 1101
Pompano Beach, FL 33062
Experience You Can Check
Mark J. Miller and Rick S. Jacobs bring former prosecutor experience, insurance-defense insight, and more than 230 reported jury trials combined to complex injury investigations.
$150M+
Reported Recoveries
50+
Years Combined
230+
Combined Jury Trials
Partner
Former Assistant State Attorney and former insurance-defense lawyer with more than 70 reported jury trials.
Mark Miller's bio →
Partner
Former Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney with more than 160 reported jury trials.
Rick Jacobs's bio →Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Every matter depends on its own facts, evidence, law, available coverage, injuries, and losses.
You Do Not Have to Identify Every Company First
Share the location, date, report number, medical care, and any contact from the property or an insurer. The first conversation can focus on what needs to be found and preserved.
Bring Whatever You Already Have
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Exact place and approximate time
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Incident or case number, if available
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Photos, messages, receipts, or access details
Questions People Ask After a Violent Incident on Someone Else's Property
These answers are general. Property type, evidence, fault, insurance, and deadlines can change the analysis.
No. A review can begin with the location, time, report, property conditions, medical care, witnesses, and video.
No. A defect may matter, but the claim also examines notice, control, reasonableness, causation, and the full record.
Lease terms, complaints, access systems, lighting, cameras, locks, prior incidents, contracts, and the multifamily statute may require review.
Keep the report number, receipts, access information, photos, messages, witness contacts, clothing, medical records, and insurer communications.
Many negligence actions generally have two years, but the defendant, claim type, public entity, wrongful death, and other facts can change it.
Potentially. The estate representative may need to examine the crime, security, responsible parties, preservation, damages, and deadline.
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