NEIGHBOURS WANT POLICE TO CLEAN UP AFTER DRUG BUST

Furniture Tossed Onto Front Yard, Garbage Strewn in Back

RESIDENTS of a quiet St. James neighbourhood breathed a sigh of relief
this week when police shut an alleged drug den, but now they say
they're upset with the mess officers left behind.

"It's just disgusting for the police to leave a mess like that," said
a neighbour, one of several interviewed yesterday who did not want to
be identified.

The residents are upset about the mess surrounding the home on
Brooklyn Street, a mess neighbours said police made late Wednesday
night.

Winnipeg police confirm that a drug warrant was executed at the St.
James address and that a small amount of drugs was found. But police
said the home's owner is responsible for the mess they left behind.

Residents said the police stormed the small storey-and-a-half house at
about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, tossing some of the furniture out onto the
small front lawn and ripping through garbage piled up in the back.

Yesterday morning, flies and wasps were buzzing around the ripped open
garbage bags, with their contents spilled out along the side yard.
Filings cabinets were strewn about the front yard, as was the broken
pieces of a desk. Lawn furniture was tipped over. The windows are
covered up from the inside with garbage bags and white insulation
strips. The white house stands in contrast to the other older homes
along the street, with their tiny, tidy yards and neat and colourful
flower beds. Residents said the house had been a trouble spot in the
neighbourhood for about a year, with a constant flow of people in and
out.

"I don't know myself, but my grandson said they were dealing drugs
from there," another neighbour said.

"It's about time the police did something," said another resident.
"People were going in and out all the time. There were drug deals
right out there on the street."

But residents said they were surprised that no one is now taking
responsibility for cleaning up the mess. Neighbours said a male
resident of the house was taken away by police. No one answered the
door yesterday morning.

"The police said it's not their responsibility to clean up the mess,"
a neighbour said. "They told me if I was so concerned about it, then I
should clean up the mess myself... I probably will have to in a couple
of days."

The neighbours said they believe the man police took away was the
owner but documents at city hall state the house is a rental property
and the registered owner is a limited company. Other documents
indicate the limited company is controlled by a Park Boulevard South
couple, one of whom is a lawyer whose downtown office is the mailing
address for the limited company. But by the end of the day, yet
another neighbour said she'd had enough of the flies and the mess and
cleaned it up herself. "It's garbage day (today)," she said. "It
should be cleaned up."