Crime Victim Information

The Law Offices of Kevin R. Madison can advise you whether it might be worthwhile to sue the perpetrator, who committed the offense against you, to seek monetary (money) damages. Even if there is not a viable case against the perpetrator there may be a case against the owner or manager of the property where the crime occurred (if on private property or governmental property) for failure to provide reasonable security or proper lighting.

Attorney Kevin R. Madison has a unique background unlike most other attorneys in the State of Texas. Mr. Madison has four years experience as a street cop and a Criminal Investigator. As a former Chief of Police, former municipal police officer, and former Deputy Sheriff of Travis County, Texas, he has a hands-on personal understanding of street crime and the mental and physical injuries that criminal predators inflict on their victims.

Mr. Madison was a decorated police officer who captured and arrested numbers of child molesters, rapists, assailants, and murderers. At age thirty, he was one of the youngest chiefs of police in Texas, serving as Chief of Police for the City of Smithville in Bastrop County, Texas.

Additionally Mr. Madison served as Security Supervisor for Dobie Center in Austin, Texas while attending the University of Texas. As a security supervisor he was responsible for the safety of 800 University of Texas male and female students residing in the 27 story high-rise Dobie Center dormitory, as well as providing all security for a two-level shopping mall and six-level parking garage. During Mr. Madison’s term as security supervisor there was not a single sexual assault or physical assault of a woman on the premises. One reason for this was Mr. Madison’s dedication and attention to security matters. He insisted and ensured that his security officers kept a vigilant, high profile, presence in the shopping mall, perimeter, and parking garage.

Even at age twenty, Mr. Madison understood that criminal predators ‘case’ or preview locations where they commit criminal acts. Criminals look for premises that indicate a lack of vigilance. They look for premises that have little or no real security presence. They look for incompetent security personnel, inept security systems, inadequate lighting, darkness, and poor architectural designs that allow criminal predators to commit their crimes without being observed or caught. It isn’t rocket science — it is vigilance, caring about your customers or tenants, that makes the difference between proper security measures and a failure to take reasonable precautions to deter criminal activity.

Although most perpetrators who commit crimes against persons have no assets to collect against, all criminal cases should be reviewed by an experienced attorney who is well versed in Inadequate Security Litigation. In many of these cases there may be other persons who may be legally responsible for allowing conditions to occur on property that encourage criminal behavior. These cases are referred to as Premises Security Cases or Inadequate Security Litigation cases. In many of these cases the landowner or manager of the property where the crime occurred (laundry mat, movie theater, shopping mall, apartment complex, school or college grounds, parking garage) may be liable for their failure to implement reasonable precautions to deter crime. This can be as simple as installing lighting and replacing burned out lights, installing and monitoring closed circuit TV cameras, and hiring security patrols, if warranted.

Mr. Madison has broken many inadequate security cases that other attorneys have declined to represent clients on. One of them involved the murder of a convenience store customer during a car jacking at a convenience store that was owned and operated by an international corporation.

Through his relentless investigation which lasted a year and a half, Mr. Madison uncovered the following facts: (1) the convenience store controlled 3 acres of land behind the store but failed to take any action to stop the crack-dealing, public intoxication, prostitution, and disturbances occurring regularly behind the store; (2) the store allowed tractor-trailer rigs to park and stay behind the store encouraging prostitution and drug-dealing; (3) before the homicide, the store’s employees had made management aware that illegal acts and sexual assaults were occurring on the premises and the corporate security supervisor never took any corrective action; (4) the store’s employees were so scared of crimes occurring on the premises that night shift employees were carrying guns at work; (5) the store allowed outdoor lights to remain burned out leaving the sides and the 3 acre tract behind the store in a cover of darkness; (6) the store had no side windows to allow the clerk to observe activity on the sides of the store or where the outdoor bathrooms were located in spite of the fact that several women had been raped in the outdoor bathroom;

(7) the store had two closed-circuit cameras pointed at the gas pumps to catch drive offs but no cameras around the outside of the store to protect customers safety; (8) the store had no alarm or panic alarm system; and (9) in spite of the fact that there had been over 500 police calls to the store in the five year period prior to the murder of Mr. Madison’s client, the store had no on-premises security officer or security patrol. After Mr. Madison’s exhaustive work on this case the defendants settled at mediation with the widow and minor child of the decedent.

There is never any charge to have Mr. Madison discuss and review any potential Crime Victim or Personal Injury case with you.

Texas Crime Victims Rights

Eligibility and Benefits for Crime Victims