Problem Property in Forest Lawn Shuttered

Calgary… A Forest Lawn residence that for years has plagued the neighbourhood with drug activity, has been vacated thanks to an Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) investigation.

On the morning of April 22, ALERT’s Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) team vacated the Calgary residence located in the 2000-block of 41 Street SE. The home is an up-and-down duplex and SCAN changed the locks and boarded up the windows and doors of the home.

The investigation into the Forest Lawn home began in September 2012 after police responded to the residence over a dozen times for various disturbances. Investigators witnessed behaviour consistent with drug trafficking and prostitution and made an application for a Community Safety Order to effectively close the home.

A Community Safer Order, which falls under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, is part of provincial legislation that empowers residents to take back their neighbourhoods. The order grants investigators the authority to close the home for a period of 90 days, during which time the tenant is barred from entering or occupying the property. The 90-day closure has been proven effective in breaking the cycle of problem behavior.

SCAN investigators use civil legislation to target problem properties around the province used for illegal purposes such as prostitution, drug use and trafficking, and gang activity. SCAN conducts investigations into residences and commercial properties in both urban and rural areas. Since April 2013, SCAN has received more than 430 complaints about problem properties province-wide.