Pubdate: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture) POLICE SEIZE HOMES FROM UNSCRUPULOUS OWNERS TO FIGHT CRIME Thirty One Vancouver Houses Have Been Referred To The B.c. Civil Forfeiture Office Since Last Year The house is vacant, the windows boarded up and the city notices tacked to the front door indicate it's not safe to occupy. The two-storey white house at 2780 E. 22nd Ave. is not much to look at from the outside. Its basic design mixes in with the old bungalows and Vancouver specials along the busy strip near Kaslo Street. But for several years, what occurred inside the house made it the most talked about property among residents and police who patrolled the area. Police have answered more than 500 calls to the house since 2004 and have made arrests for drug dealing, robbery, assaults and prostitution. Neighbours talk of drug impaired people wandering the streets, scantily clad women frequenting the house, high-end vehicles parked outside and police armed with semi-automatic rifles surrounding the property. The mayhem ended abruptly in September. What closed down the house was a combination of tedious police work, input from neighbours and officers relying on a relatively new provincial law to ensure the house is no longer a problem. The house is among 31 in Vancouver that police have referred to the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office in Victoria since last year. The total equity of the homes, after mortgages are subtracted, is estimated between $12 million and $15 million. The cases are still before the courts and there is no indication when or whether the house on East 22nd will be the first forfeited to the provincial government. But police are confident that this approach, which has already seen the successful civil forfeiture of cash and cars, will see houses in Vancouver seized from unscrupulous owners. Although people tied to the house on East 22nd were prosecuted for various crimes, the Crown prosecution office didn't believe police had enough evidence to seize the house in criminal court. (The VPD is pursuing the forfeiture of five houses through criminal court.) "It's only after we've exhausted all the avenues of a criminal investigation and criminal charges that we do a referral for civil forfeiture," explained Insp. Brad Desmarais, who heads the Vancouver Police Department's drug and gangs sections. "The civil route gives us an additional tool that we didn't have before." In the case on East 22nd, police reviewed the 500-plus calls to the house, criminal charges related to the property and collected victim impact statements from residents. Police referred a package of evidence to the forfeiture office, where the executive director and his staff decide "on a balance of probabilities" whether the house was used as an instrument of unlawful activity. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom