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.