HELPING TO FIGHT CRIME

There seems to be a lot of crime lately in the 100 Mile House area.

RCMP are reporting everything from agressive panhandlers, to thefts
into businesses and last week we heard of a harrowing situation where
a mother and her child hid in a locked room in their home, while
thieves entered their premises.

This week at the 100 Mile and Area District Safety Committee meeting,
residents in the Blackstock sub-division showed up demanding
something be done about drug dealers living on their street.

But governments and police seem to have a difficult time dealing with
these kinds of troubling situations.

One government however appears to have found at least some kind of
actionable solution. Instead of putting the onus on law enforcement
agencies, they've put the onus on landlords.

The United Kingdom's web-site from the "home office" talks about new
powers to close 'crack houses' that have been in operation in that
country since Jan. 20, 2004. These powers were implemented because
"Class A drugs (cocaine and others) have been linked with street
level violent crime and community disorder, acquisitive crime, gun
crime and sex work, thereby having damaging effects on local
communities, undermining regeneration and reducing social capital."

The new powers basically give communities the ability to seek a court
order to have a crackhouse closed down by police authorities, if a
landlord refuses to deal with complaints about their buildings. It
states, that "the likelihood of landlord compensation is prevented by
the courts providing written warnings to all landlords explaining
that if they do not take action then a closure order will be applied
to address the problem."

There are provisions for early intervention by social services to
support vulnerable tenants and a Drug Action Team for fast-tracking
'crack house' residents into treatment following a closure.

The powers it indicates allows premises which have "blighted
communities for years" to be closed.

Having checked numerous crime prevention sites in Canada, this
information from the UK seemed to offer solutions to communities and
seems certainly worth further investigation.

This website hopefully may help communities in their efforts.
www.crimereduction.gov.uk/toolkits/.