‘Safety is real bad:’ Residents at senior living worried about crime

Recent police activity at a downtown Jacksonville apartment complex for seniors has many worried for their safety.

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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a report showing a significant number of police calls to the Cathedral Towers, an affordable housing complex for people 55 and up – and JSO’s calls for service show there have been more than 100 calls made so far this year.

“Safety is real bad,” resident Diana Bright said.

Bright said she’s scared to come home because of all the crime in the area.

JSO’s report shows this month, there were seven calls for service made, which is roughly one every two days. At least one of them required a crime scene investigation.

“There ain’t no security,” Bright said. “And me, myself personally, I can defend myself, but there are a lot of elderly people that can’t.”

Out of the 109 calls made so far this year, 25 were disputes and three of them were armed. There have been five assaults, one armed suspicious person, three trespassers, and two fights.

“We take the safety of our residents very seriously and we’re concerned if the residents feel unsafe,” Aging Truth CEO Teresa Barton said.

The Cathedral Towers is one of four in the Cathedral Residences Senior Community in the area. Aging True owns all four buildings, and Barton said the calls come with the territory of being a downtown property.

“We’re in a downtown area and there is a lot of transient activity,” Barton said.

Barton said the number of calls is not surprising, especially since some are related to EMS calls with the residents falling or having accidents. But she said she sees the high number of calls as a positive thing.

“Fortunately, the relationship we have with JSO has been wonderful in that they respond quickly, so many of those concerns are not our residents,” Barton said.

Barton said there are also two security guards monitoring all four buildings around the clock. But residents said they don’t feel like two is enough.

“There is no way possible – 18 floors, 21 floors, 17 or something like that, how is two people going to take care of that,” resident Raymond Campbell said.

Barton said they feel it is enough, but if they need to add more, they will.

“I don’t want the residents to feel unsafe and I’m committed to doing things that will improve the safety in any way we can tangibly do that,” Barton said.

She added saying if people need help going to and from their car, they can call the security guards to walk them there safely.

Barton also said they plan to have a meeting within the next week or two for the residents to see what solutions they can come up with.

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