GOOD STEP ON DRUG HOUSES

One of the best things about the province's new approach to combatting
drug houses is that it will help frustrated taxpayers and neighbours
better understand the complexity of a legal system that focuses on
perpetrators, not the places where they do their business.

Another valuable benefit is that our government is starting to apply a
common-sense flexibility toward man-power in law enforcement that it
has been using for years to get more bang-for-buck out of our health
dollars.

The idea behind a new 14-person sheriff's unit is to focus civil
rather than criminal remedies to solve chronic problems associated
with where criminal activities take place. In response to complaints,
they will establish that, say, a house is being used for cocaine
trafficking, meth preparation or prostitution, and then approach first
the landlord and then civil court to pressure the owners and evict the
occupants. They will not enter the properties or confront perpetrators
- -- that will remain the specialty of police -- but they will make sure
that police officers' struggle to deal with specific cases in a timely
fashion doesn't mean that neighbours are left in the lurch.

Even derelict properties will come under the new unit's purview, which
will hopefully free up police manpower as well as improve the
authorities' record in dealing with properties that have become
perennial thorns in the side of communities. If it works well, the
innocent who tend to get hurt -- children and parents of the people
indulging in the criminal activity -- will also be helped to find new
accommodation.

As with most "outside-the-box" approaches to a problem, there are
negative ways to look at the enabling legislation, the Safer
Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, which has come into force this
week.

Some may see it as a first step down the road to a provincial police
force; others might see it as a way to cut back on policing, the way
health reforms making better use of nursing skills could be seen as a
way of cutting the role of more highly trained physicians.

But if an idea makes sense, then it is absurd not to try it just to
allay such fears. The time to deal with them is when and if facts and
experience show they are warranted.

In the meantime, citizens of this province can only hope the new law
gives relief to members of the community who have been living with far
more than their fair share of the side-effects of crime.