DRUG DENS ON OFFICER'S 'PAPER ROUTE'

Report A Drug House Program Trumpeted

Depending on his schedule, Const. Ron Smithman will hit the same drug
house three times in a week or every day.

"It's almost like a paper route for me," he says.

By his definition, drug houses are not just homes converted to
marijuana grow operations or basements turned into meth labs. Drug
houses can be places where drugs are sold and where people who take
them hang out.

To rid neighbourhoods of drugs, many people have turned to the Report
A Drug House program.

Edmonton police celebrated Wednesday at the site of one of the 400
success stories the program has yielded since it launched last year.

Connie John co-owns a Sherwood neighbourhood house, at 9331 154th St.,
that became home to drug operations.

Sgt. Maurice Brodeur, head of the Report a Drug House program, called
her to tell her what neighbours were reporting. He showed her pictures
of the people who were coming and going from the house. Ultimately, he
helped her get the woman who was renting the house evicted.

It turned out the house was a dropoff and pickup centre for crack
cocaine and methamphetamines.

With the help of 20 volunteers, Brodeur's team has responded to 1,068
complaints this year, although "about 15 per cent of those have been
false."

The program has also caught on in Wetaskiwin and Grande Prairie, where
Brodeur said 40 houses were cleared in the past nine months.