SCAN shuts down house on city’s northside

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on January 11, 2024.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Members of the Alberta Sheriffs walk toward a northside house that was shut down by SCAN on Wednesday. SCAN obtained a court order against the owner of the home at 1607 3 Ave. N. which has been visited multiple times by police in the past two years.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge-based Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods unit of the Alberta Sheriffs has shut down a property on the northside where drug activity and violence prompted numerous visits from police.

SCAN obtained a court order against the owner of 1607 3 Ave. N. that gives investigators the authority to close the property for 90 days effective yesterday at noon.

Any tenancy agreement or lease of the property was terminated at that time.

The community safety order, obtained from Court of King’s Bench, bars people from the property until April 9 when the closure period ends. It is being boarded up, fenced and all the locks will be changed and SCAN members will monitor activities there while their investigation continues.

Between Sept. 1 2021 and Aug. 28 of last year, city police attended the property 36 times for various types of calls. Eight neighbourhood complainants also contacted SCAN.

The Herald learned while on-scene that the owner was an occupant of the property, an older stucco home with at least one piece of furniture and other detritus visible outside. One sign read “Dog on premises,” another “No Trespassing. We’re tired of hiding the bodies.”

A strong presence of Sheriffs department staff was at the scene, including at least two wearing hazmat suits with breathing apparatus. Employees of one company was installing wire fencing around the property while other people were boarding the windows.

In the alley, a shopping cart filled with assorted items including a plastic clothes hamper was at the edge of a parking stall

In a statement to media, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said “the SCAN unit is instrumental in ensuring the safe communities that we all deserve. I am pleased to see that, since its announcement in November, the southern Alberta SCAN team has taken swift action to confront and eliminate criminal activity in our neighbourhoods. Alberta’s government will do whatever it takes to keep all Albertans safe.”

In a second statement, Alberta Sheriffs deputy chief Greg Medley stated “when SCAN closes a problem property anywhere in the province, we make an immediate, positive difference in the lives of Albertans. The southern Alberta SCAN team’s close partnership with the Lethbridge Police Service has been a key driver of our success in addressing properties like this one and I look forward to future progress.”

Since it was started in 2008, SCAN has investigated more than 8,000 properties in Alberta and issued about 100 community safety orders. Most complaints, according to SCAN, are resolved by working with owners to stop the illegal activity on properties.

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