Prior Crimes Can Show a Property Owner Saw the Danger Coming

If someone you love was hurt in an attack on someone else’s property, one question often comes first: did the owner know the danger was there? If you were attacked on someone else’s property in New Mexico, a central question is whether the danger could have been foreseen before the attack happened, and evidence of prior crimes, records, and warnings can help answer it.

Here’s the short answer. This page explains each kind of proof in plain terms.

What Does It Mean That a Business “Knew” About Crime?

In a New Mexico negligent security claim, the main question is usually whether the crime was foreseeable. The question is not whether the business meant any harm. A landowner must use ordinary care to protect visitors from harm caused by the foreseeable conduct of a third party, including criminal conduct (UJI 13-1320 NMRA). The commentary adds that a landowner’s failure can be compared with the attacker’s conduct under New Mexico’s comparative fault system.

Facts about a property’s security history can be an important part of reviewing a negligent security matter. The more foreseeable a danger is, the more care the law expects. UJI 13-1603 NMRA says that as the risk of danger that should reasonably be foreseen increases, the amount of care required also increases.

Several people can share responsibility. The property owner, a management company, or a security contractor may each have controlled part of the premises or its security. Under NMSA 1978, § 41-3A-1, a defendant that is severally liable, and that establishes the fault of another is a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury, pays only its share of the total dollar amount awarded as damages, equal to the ratio of its fault to the total fault attributed to all persons, including plaintiffs, defendants and persons not party to the action. That statute has exceptions, so how it applies depends on the facts of each case.

Prior Crimes and Incidents on the Property

Prior crimes at the same property are often the first proof investigators look for. Similar incidents in the same place, close to the same time, can show that an attack was foreseeable.

Police calls for service and incident reports are common sources. They can show a pattern at a particular address. A claim usually focuses on incidents at the property itself. Area-wide crime totals are a different kind of evidence. The FBI Crime Data Explorer reports agency-level crime data for New Mexico jurisdictions, but a citywide number does not show what happened on one lot.

Incidents involving the same kind of crime carry the most direct weight. So do incidents in the same part of a property, such as a parking lot, stairwell, or loading dock. Timing matters too. Earlier crimes that happened shortly before an attack are usually easier to connect to it than older ones, though age is only one factor.

A single unrelated event may be weighed differently from a documented pattern. A police report is one piece of the picture, not the whole picture. Families often find that the most useful proof sits in several places at once.

The Business’s Own Records: Logs, Complaints, and Maintenance Requests

The business’s own records can show what it knew, and when. These records often tell a clearer story than memory does.

Look for security incident logs, guard daily reports, and tenant or customer complaints. Insurance claim files can also show earlier losses at the property. Sign-in sheets and key logs can show who had access and when. Internal incident notes matter even if no police call was made, because they can show that staff saw a problem.

Maintenance and work orders matter too. A ticket about a broken gate lock, a dead camera, or a dark parking lot can show a known gap in security before the attack. Employee texts and emails about problems on the property can show what staff knew and when they knew it.

Records the business should have reviewed can therefore matter, not only what staff recall.

Warnings and Requests for Better Security

A written warning or request for better security can be strong proof that a risk was known. These requests often come from tenants, employees, customers, or police.

Common examples include letters or emails asking for more patrols, cameras, better lighting, or locked access points. A request that was ignored or delayed can be central to showing what the business knew. The timing matters. A warning sent months before an attack is viewed differently from one sent the week before. The response matters as much as the warning itself.

A request can also show who was responsible for acting on it. A claim may ask who could make the change, who was told, and who chose not to act. Meeting minutes, budget requests, and security audits can be relevant in the same way. If an audit identified weak spots and nothing changed, the audit may show that the risk was known.

Screening, Training, and Supervision of Security Staff

A security company or property owner can face claims over how it hired, retained, and supervised the people providing security. Under UJI 13-1647 NMRA, a claim of this kind requires several points. The employer must have known or should have known the employee would create an unreasonable risk of injury to a group or class that includes the plaintiff. The employer must have failed to use ordinary care. That failure must have been a cause of the injury.

The commentary explains that this duty runs from the employer to members of the public the employer might reasonably anticipate would be placed at risk. See Spencer v. Health Force, Inc. for that point. Recovery does not require that the employee was acting within the scope of employment when the injury happened.

Investigators commonly review background checks, licensing records, training records, post orders, shift logs, and supervision records. These records show what was checked and documented. No single record decides the question. A former guard’s later conduct raises separate questions and should be looked at on its own facts. For a related New Mexico example, see Albuquerque security company negligence claims.

Preserving Evidence and Requesting Public Records

Early preservation matters because video, access logs, and alarm records can be overwritten on a regular schedule. Surveillance footage from entrances, parking areas, and hallways is often the first thing to disappear. A written preservation request asks a business to keep specific records. It is a common early step in these claims.

Destroying or losing evidence is called spoliation. New Mexico law addresses it directly.

Public records can also help. Court filings in related cases can be reviewed through the court system. Families don’t have to gather these records alone, and a careful list of what to request can save time.

How These Records Fit Together in a Claim

Proof of prior notice usually comes from several records read together, not from one document. A police report, a maintenance ticket, and a written warning can tell one story when their dates line up. Investigators look at how the timing of earlier incidents, warnings, and the attack relate to one another.

Each claim turns on its own facts. Some prior incidents do not, by themselves, prove every part of a negligent security claim. Causation is a separate question.

For the broader legal framework in New Mexico, read our negligent security lawyer guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk With Our Team About Your Situation

Talking through the incident with our team can help you see which records may matter. If you’re dealing with an attack that someone you care about did not choose, you may already be juggling medical care, paperwork, and hard questions. You don’t have to sort through the records alone.

Our initial consultation is free, confidential, and without obligation to continue. Josh Wood is the lawyer responsible for this page. To get in touch, use our contact form.