Pubdate: Sat, 02 Jan 2010
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2010 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Davene Jeffrey

PROGRAM CRACKING DOWN ON CRACK HOUSES

Nova Scotia's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act  is shutting 
down crack houses around the province.

"I think it's been very useful," said Pat Lawrence,  director of the 
Metropolitan Regional Housing  Authority.

"It's given residents within the communities the  ability to 
anonymously (come forward) if they have  concerns about a neighbour."

Earlier this month, the Justice Department's public  safety 
investigation section announced it had completed  500 investigations 
and issued more than 100 evictions  under the act.

Its most recent, court-imposed, community safety order  was at 2441 
Creighton St., a townhouse in Halifax run  by the housing authority.

"Nine shots were fired at people standing outside of  that residence, 
who were involved in drug trafficking  and several of those shots 
actually hit the surrounding  townhouses," said Roger Merrick, 
director of public  safety investigations.

"So there's a huge safety issue for other residences.  And it doesn't 
really matter where it is. . . .  Everyone has a right to expect 
safety in their  neighbourhood."

In another case, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court issued a  decision 
which enforced a public safety order at a  public housing unit in Spryfield.

In that case, Lisa Lawrence (no relation to Pat  Lawrence) and her 
family were forced to vacate their  home at 134 Lavender Walk last 
June after a judge  declared Lisa Lawrence's lease with the housing 
authority terminated.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act targets  residential or 
commercial properties that are regularly  used for the illegal 
activities such as trafficking  drugs, bootlegging, prostitution and 
illegal gambling.

The act also protects the identities of complainants,  although Pat 
Lawrence freely admits the housing  authority has co-operated with 
the public safety  investigation section in the past.

"We have worked with the public safety officer,  absolutely," she said.

In the case at 134 Lavender Walk, the decision spells  out that Lisa 
Lawrence's family were well known drug  dealers in the Greystone 
community. Her sons, Brandon  and Marcel, and their friends identify 
themselves as  the Greystone Gang, the decision states.

Two police officers testified at the hearing that there  was steady 
stream of people in and out of the  Lawrences' home day and night. A 
public safety  investigator videoed at least one drug deal at the 
property, the judge wrote.

In January 2005, the Lawrence's home was shot at twice  and later vandalized.

Lisa Lawrence testified at the hearing that she  regularly buys 
marijuana illegally for medicinal  reasons - smoking upwards of 15 
grams per week. She  said her sons smoke weed too and are respected 
community members. She also denied that anyone in her  home sold the stuff.

However, Justice Richard Coughlan ruled that the  neighbourhood was 
being adversely affected by the  activities at the home and ordered 
the family out.

In total, the public safety office has taken six cases  to court. 
Five resulted in the court issuing a public  safety order, Mr. Merrick said.

The five include the Creighton Street and Lavender Walk  townhouses, 
as well as a mobile home at 14 Douglas Ave.  in Berwick, and two Cape 
Breton homes - 70 Grandview  St. in Sydney and 19 MacNamara St. in 
Sydney Mines.

The sixth case, involved the Gentlemen's Massage  Parlour, which used 
to operate on Windmill Road in  Dartmouth. In that case, Mr. Merrick 
said the  owner-operator decided to sell the property before 
the  case wrapped up.

The Justice Department won't release the 101 addresses  where their 
public safety investigators found evidence  of criminal activity, but 
the residents agreed to move  without fighting the warning-to-vacate 
notice they were  issued.

The office has five investigators, all former cops with  extensive 
investigative experience and at any one time  there are about 40 to 
50 ongoing investigations.

Mr. Merrick says his section has been able to solve  some long-term 
community troubles that police haven't  been able to crack.

Criminal charges are laid against individuals and once  criminal 
cases are resolved, individuals often return  to their homes and to 
the criminal activity, he said

"In our case, we try to find a remedy to the property  itself and we 
do that by actually closing the  property," he said.

The act has given neighbourhoods the ability to speak  out against 
criminal activity which has held them  captive, he said.

"Nowhere during the case, even when it goes to court,  is the 
complainant's name released. That allows for  people to give us 
information without fear of  reprisal."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart