The Moose Jaw Police Service could start a campaign this fall that encourages residents to speak up if they think homeless people or drug users are “squatting” in abandoned homes or buildings.
Several citizens have brought their concerns to Mayor Clive Tolley about drug use and crime in “our beautiful city” and wondered whether the community is safe. He raised those concerns during the latest Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting and wondered what the city and cops could do more effectively to address these worries.
“I’ve signed demolition orders on a number of homes that people didn’t pay their taxes and they’re dilapidated and, in some cases, vacated,” Tolley said.
“Our city administration went through the proper protocols to send them so many notices and give them so much time. And when they didn’t fulfill their obligations as a taxpayer, then the property was obtained by the city.
“And then we’re going to demolish these houses and level the lots and try and put them up for sale and try and have our in-fill housing program (work),” he continued, noting the initiative gives a five-year tax exemption to people who build on such spaces.
Tolley wondered how the City of Moose Jaw could improve its communications with the police service (MJPS) about this situation where squatters are using abandoned homes — which the city has acquired but not yet demolished — as drug dens.
The police service could look at creating a communications strategy to alert residents, a step it could take this September once its new public relations manager arrives, said Deputy Chief Rick Johns. That person can work with city hall’s communications manager to craft that strategy.
“With respect to abandoned houses and people squatting in them, we generally do get notified by neighbours and we’ll go check it out to see if there is someone unlawfully in the home,” he continued.
There is also a great provincial program called Safer Community and Neighbourhoods (SCAN), which is a policing body that uses a civil process to evict people from places that are run-down and who are possibly selling drugs, Johns added. The MJPS will see if that group can assist here.
Tolley appreciated hearing that the police service would work with the city on a joint communications plan, which he believed could keep the city beautiful and safer and assist officers with their work.
The next police board meeting is Thursday, Aug. 10.
