Pubdate: Fri, 21 Apr 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
id=7af1838c-862f-4c57-a402-f0da5c639d72
Copyright: 2006 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Janet French, The StarPhoenix

CRIME-INFESTED HOMES CLOSED

Anonymous Reporting Helps Lead Investigators Of Gov't-Backed Program

PLEASANT HILL, Sask. -- Tenants at three Pleasant Hill homes were  
evicted this month under a Justice Department program that aims to  
shut down brothels, drug houses and booze cans.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act, a program that  
lets neighbours report suspicious activity anonymously, took effect  
in fall 2004. By December 2005, investigators had sent residents  
packing from 64 crime-filled homes across the province, Justice  
Minister Frank Quennell said Thursday.

With help from landlords, SCAN investigators have evicted people from  
eight Pleasant Hill homes, including three on April 7, Quennell said.

"I think in streets where there is a house where people are afraid to  
go out of their homes if anybody is coming out of or going to that  
house, we make a dramatic difference when we shut down that house,"  
he said.

At a community meeting last week, Pleasant Hill residents challenged  
the province to take action in their crime-ridden neighbourhood.

The city's first two homicides of 2006 took place in Pleasant Hill --  
across the street from the other on Avenue S South, a couple of weeks  
apart in March.

When a resident sees suspicious traffic frequenting a house, that  
person is encouraged to call a toll-free number and report it.  
Provincial investigators check out the homes, which usually involves  
surveillance, Quennell said.

When the investigators have gathered their evidence, they present it  
to the property's landlord in hopes the tenants will be evicted. If  
the property owner is causing the trouble, investigators can apply to  
a judge for a so-called community safety order.

Any future criminal activity at the address will put the owners in  
contempt of court, and police can lay charges, Quennell said.

At least one of the Avenue S homes that became a homicide scene was  
suspected of being a drug house, Quennell said.

"This is the type of place you'd hope somebody would report to the  
Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods unit so that that activity was  
shut down before the type of violence that often arises from that  
type of activity would occur and somebody was tragically killed," he  
said.

A drug house, Quennell said, can be a place from which residents deal  
drugs or an otherwise empty home where people meet to do intravenous  
drugs or solvents.

"It's pretty grisly stuff," he said of some residences he toured in  
Regina busted under SCAN.

Dorothy Ross, a Pleasant Hill resident, recently heard about SCAN and  
said she wished she'd known about it sooner. Ross said she's made  
repeated calls to the police in the past about a suspected drug house  
on her street, which was eventually shut down.

She feels like the neighbourhood has become safer since more crime  
hot spots have been shut down.

"It's helped a lot," she said. "I'd like to see a lot more shut down  
because there are a lot of drug houses in this area."

Brian Graham, president of the Pleasant Hill community association,  
is less convinced.

"It's just a Band-Aid solution," he said. "It doesn't have any teeth."

In some cases where tenants are evicted, no criminal charges are  
laid, he said. Some evictions just displace criminals to another  
house in the neighbourhood, he said, adding he knows of one group of  
dealers who are back on the same street peddling drugs after getting  
evicted.

"It's a start and we have to be comfortable with whatever starts we  
get, but is it going to solve anything? No, because eventually  
they're just going to get smarter and figure out new ways of  
dealing," Graham said.

The April 6 budget included money for two new SCAN investigators.

Quennell also said the program doesn't just shuffle drug dealers and  
pimps around. Many landlords own numerous properties and aren't going  
to rent to the same thugs twice, he said.

The justice minister said he didn't know how many evicted tenants  
also faced criminal charges in connection with their activities.

Along with 64 evictions between November 2004 and December 2005,  
investigators have also handed out six warnings, and in 25 cases were  
able to take other measures to stop the criminal activity, Quennell  
said.

To anonymously report a drug house, sex trade operation or booze can,  
call 1-866-51-SAFER.
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