JUDGE SAYS CITY FALLS SHORT IN DRUG FIGHT

Forced Dealer Evictions Decline

Boston police are all but abandoning a proven anti-drug dealing
weapon - the power to force landlords to toss pushers from their
apartments, a top judge charges. Forced evictions have fallen off
sharply over the past few years, said Chief Housing Court Justice
Manuel Kyriakakis. "What's being missed is the opportunity to clear
up a lot of these alleged drug dens. I do think more aggressive
action could be taken by authorities to have these drug violators
removed." Available records show that far fewer people are being
evicted under a 1985 law that requires landlords to bring
drug-involved tenants in private or public housing before the Housing
Court for immediate eviction if the illegal activity occurred in
rented property. While criminally involved tenants can be evicted
through other means, the emergency evictions Kyriakakis is concerned
about have dropped to just three so far this year from 16 last year
and 49 in 1999. With crime remaining a top concern among Hub
residents, Kyriakakis' comments can only add to the swirl of issues
voters will have to grapple with when they either re-elect incumbent
Mayor Thomas M. Menino or choose challenger Maura Hennigan, a
longtime city councilor. The emergency eviction rate has plummeted
on both candidates' watches.

While police have told Kyriakakis they are still notifying landlords
when drug arrests are made on their property, the judge believes
police aren't holding landlords feet to the fire like they used to in
the past. That could change, though. After the Herald began inquiring
about the story, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole arranged
an Oct. 5 meeting with Kyriakakis to discuss the eviction issue.

"I was very pleased with the call. I've been trying to get their
attention on this," Kyriakakis said. "We feel there could be much
more use made of the Housing Court." Boston police did not comment on
Kyriakakis' concerns, saying late yesterday they didn't have enough
information to respond.

Landlords can be thrown in jail for failing to kick out drug-dealing
tenants, a point driven home in 1988, when then-Boston Housing Court
Chief Justice E. George Daher sentenced Jamaica Plain landlord Andre
Diaz to a year in prison for allowing drug sales. Boston police
Deputy Superintendent James Wood praised the conviction, telling The
Boston Globe at the time it was a "great thing." "Now that we have
another weapon to use, we will use it," he told the newspaper. Not
every eviction goes through Housing Court. Landlord Ted Ahern, who
owns an apartment building in Dorchester's Codman Square, said he
simply has to show the letter from police and tenants move on.

"It has been very effective for me. Once people see that they leave.
They're just dead in the water," Ahern said.

Longtime Dorchester real estate attorney Stuart Schrier said he used
to field "frantic" phone calls from landlords who had been told by
police detectives that the city would seize their house if they
didn't evict their tenants immediately.

"They kind of stopped doing that," Schrier said. "I haven't seen any
of it in the last couple of years."