Pubdate: Sun, 08 Jun 2008
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Antonella Artuso
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

WHEN STREET GOES TO POT

MPP Wants Law To Shut Criminal Dens

It's hard to love thy neighbour when you live next door to a crack house.

There are no fences high enough to block the noise, garbage and 
danger of a drug hangout, brothel or gambling den.

When a house or apartment becomes a home for criminal activities, it 
can take months for a team of police officers, city staff and 
politicians to shut down the enterprise.

It can be back in business the next day--in the same location or a 
block away--and the whole process begins anew.

Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Howie Page said these illicit operations are 
more than a nuisance. T hey pose health, fire and safety threats, 
attract prostitution and petty crime, destroy property and victimize 
other tenants and owners.

"There are crack houses throughout Toronto from Etobicoke to 
Scarborough," Page said. "Here in 51 Division, it's a daily if not 
hourly concern for us."

As housing prices soar, more drug dealers opt to move their 
operations into apartments, where they can ply their trade away from 
police eyes. The criminals scare the neighbouring tenants into 
silence, or worse.

SENIORS INTIMIDATED

"They will take advantage of senior citizens," Page said. "They 
somehow get into their apartment. They intimidate the senior ... they 
take over the apartment to deal their drugs from."

The senior is a hostage in the home, never left alone to call the 
police until the operation moves on, leaving a ruined apartment 
behind, he said.

Sometimes the landlords are willing participants in the activities, 
but often times may be unaware, afraid or frustrated by a system that 
they feel favours the bad tenant.

Other neighbours may be too frightened of reprisals to come forward to police.

An Ottawa Centre MPP believes there's an easier way to deal with 
problem properties.

Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi will be out this summer seeking input and 
support for a private member's bill he plans to introduce this fall 
to bring SCAN legislation to Ontario.

Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) legislation is already at 
work in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Yukon and Saskatchewan.

"The evidence from other provinces is that this type of legislation 
is extremely effective," Naqvi said. "We're not targeting 
individuals; we're targeting properties."

Naqvi said the enforcement begins with an official letter and ends 
with the strongest penalty available under the legislation, a 90-day 
order to shut down the property.

Experience in other provinces has shown that the first letter solves 
the problem in more than 90% of the cases.

Naqvi has already garnered support from Ottawa, Hamilton, Kingston 
and Peterborough and from community groups and the Ottawa Police.

SCAN legislation sets up an enforcement arm that reacts to complaints 
about a property. An investigator determines if there is a persistent 
problem that endangers or disrupts neighbours and then attempts to 
solve it with a warning letter.

The official is available to testify at an eviction hearing for a 
tenant, if necessary.

If all else fails, an order can be issued to vacate the property for 
up to 90 days.

The complainant need never be identified or testify.

All the attention tends to move the process along pretty quickly, but 
a key component of the legislation is that it applies a lower burden 
of proof -- civil rather than the more onerous criminal standard that 
police must meet.

Naqvi said he will introduce "made in Ontario" legislation and is 
still consulting on the details, including which level of government 
would be responsible for implementation and whether it would apply to 
all properties including public housing.

A spokesman for Attorney General Chris Bentley said he has discussed 
the bill with Naqvi and is looking forward to its introduction in the fall.

If the private member's bill were to become a government bill, it 
would be more likely to become the law of the land.

Vince Breschia, president of the Federation of Rental Housing 
Providers of Ontario, said landlords support SCAN legislation because 
they find it a challenge to address these types of problems through 
existing legislation in Ontario.

"Sometimes landlords live in fear of the tenants," he said.

Small landlords, in particular, have not always met with success 
while trying to evict difficult tenants through the Landlord and 
Tenants tribunal, he said.

Breschia said SCAN legislation would provide an independent, official 
third party to handle the situation.

SCAN also works when the landlord is part of the problem, as was the 
situation in a case in Manitoba where the madam of a brothel also 
owned the house, he said.

The legislation is not without detractors, who fear the impact on 
vulnerable tenants and civil liberties.

Dan McIntyre, program co-ordinator of the federation of Metro 
Tenants' Associations, said they would oppose any "vigilante" 
approach that would evict tenants without due process.

"We would be more enthusiastic if there was legislation being brought 
forward to license landlords," McIntyre said. "We are now paying the 
price for years of neglect of enforcing existing (property standard) laws."

Councillor Paula Fletcher, who represents the Riverdale area, said 
any tool that helps the city deal with problem properties is worth a look.

Fletcher said she'll ask city staff to review SCAN legislation to see 
if it will work on crack houses in Toronto.

LENGTHY, COSTLY

"The amount of time and effort it takes to close it down is really 
quite gruelling," she said. "I know they spent months and months in 
my ward on one location and then bang, it opened up down the street."

Proceeds of crime legislation has been used to shut down a crack 
house in Hamilton, but the process is lengthy and expensive.

Naqvi said the focus of criminal law remedies is organized crime, not 
your garden variety crack house.

The MPP said the law wouldn't be used to deal with the "one-off rowdy 
party;" it would apply when a property has become a hub for criminal behaviour.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom