RCMP MAKES CRACKS IN CITY DRUG CRIME

Few crack shacks remain in Kamloops after concerted efforts to root
them out, the city's top cop announced Thursday.

RCMP Supt. Jim Begley said that within the last three years, the
number of drug houses has dropped to four from 26.

Some of the dealers have left town, he said, while others have been
incarcerated.

"Accommodations [for drug dealers] are less easy to find," Begley
said, noting that although crime in general hasn't decreased in
Kamloops, it has also not increased.

One example of a drug house the police, together with the City of
Kamloops, was able to bust, is at 971 Westgate St.

During a press conference Thursday, city officials announced that,
in the course of one year, the drug house was transformed from a
messy property to a house that is now well kept with new owners.

After neighbours submitted a petition bearing 50 names to city
council one year ago, the city took action, patrolling the area 45
times in the span of 10 weeks.

Of particular concern, said community and corporate affairs director
Len Hrycan, was the proximity of the drug house to Brocklehurst secondary.

A few months after the petition went to council, police obtained a
search warrant and made several arrests.

Later, the city - using the unsightly premises bylaw and the Motor
Vehicle Act - cleaned the property and charged $2,050 in costs
against the house's property taxes.

The Westgate bust also marked the first time the City of Kamloops
used the Civil Forfeiture Act.

Under the act, a municipality and the RCMP can advise the provincial
government to seize a property if it appears the owners profit, or
receive revenue, from the proceeds of crime on that property.

Often, said Hrycan, it is enough to threaten use of the act to get a
landlord to comply.

The act came into force in April 2006 and has been used only a few
times in Kamloops, most recently in March on a property on Chestnut Avenue.