Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2016
Source: Cowichan Valley Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Cowichan Valley Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4349
Author: Robert Barron

NO EASY FIX FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD DRUG HOUSES

Ron Stasynec is fed up with the almost daily incidents at what he
believes is a drug house in his North Cowichan neighbourhood.

The situation has gotten so bad that Stasynec is even considering
selling his home and moving from the community.

Stasynec claims cars start dropping by the house in the early
afternoons to buy drugs from dealers, and the frequency of cars and
people increase in the evenings.

He said there's lots of noise at the house almost all the time, and
his home and some of his neighbours' houses and properties have been
vandalized by people connected to the problem dwelling.

"A lot of people in my neighbourhood are afraid of the people in that
house, and its visitors," he said.

"The police have been called and have been to the house numerous times
now, but then they go away and the problem continues like they were
never there. I wrote a letter to the [Municipality of North Cowichan]
and the local RCMP, and still nothing has been done."

Krista Hobday, a spokesperson for the Duncan/North Cowichan RCMP
detachment, said she can't speak to this particular case, as it might
impede ongoing investigations.

But, she said, while local police get emergency calls concerning
alleged drug houses, it's a fact that they simply don't have the
resources and manpower to constantly monitor such problem properties
in its jurisdiction.

She said if the RCMP identify such a residence as "having all the
earmarks of a drug house," police will often put the house under
surveillance and investigate individuals that frequent it.

"We can get search warrants and search the house, after which charges
can be laid, depending on what is found," Hobday said.

"But we can't usually take the house away from its landlord, who is
often renting it out. Renters are often 'fly-by-night' people and
while we can enforce the laws they are breaking, it doesn't stop them
from going back to that same house when released from custody."

Municipalities don't have any authority to enforce criminal laws,
including the selling and use of drugs from homes in their
jurisdictions.

That enforcement is left to the local police.

But they do have nuisance bylaws, including some for noise and
unsightly premises, and they can act against the landlord if multiple
complaints have been received and the landlord has not acted on
repeated orders to deal with the infractions.

The penalties for non-compliance get more serious if the landlord
doesn't act to fix the problems, and range from fines, notices on
title and injunctions to court orders against the landlord.

Municipal bylaws, in co-operation with local law enforcement, has been
used to great effect over the years in the City of Nanaimo to shut
down drug houses and clean up neighbourhoods.

North Cowichan Jon Lefebure said officials from the municipality and
officers from the Duncan/North Cowichan RCMP detachment meet every two
months to discuss and collaborate on issues of mutual importance.

But he acknowledged that the issue of drug houses in the community is
"very difficult and frustrating" to deal with.

"We have the ability to fine the landlords of these properties, but if
challenged in court, a $500 fine could lead to court costs to the
municipality of up to $5,000," Lefebure said.

"So we're pretty careful on when and where we issue those fines," he
said.

As for notices on the land title, Lefebure said that approach warns
potential buyers of the property of issues, but does little else to
force current landlords to deal with issues on their properties.

"Each step [in the municipality's penalty system for nuisance
properties] has consequences for the landlord, but it's still very
challenging to effectively stop these problems," he said.

"We'll continue to work with the police and I'll see to it that
Nanaimo's strategy is investigated to see if we can learn something
from that city's experience. But I'm not naive and I know there's no
simple solutions."
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MAP posted-by: Matt