SCAN closes northside home

By Lethbridge Herald on November 19, 2024.

A group of officers stands in front of a home closed by the SCAN Unit on Tuesday along Eagle Road on the city’s northside. Herald photo by Toyin Obatusin

Toyin Obatusin – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A house on Eagle Road on the northside of Lethbridge has been shut down by the Alberta Sheriffs for 90 days due to complaints of drug trafficking that prompted frequent visits from police.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Unit of the Sheriffs obtained a court order against the owner of 94 Eagle Road North which gives investigators authority to close the property for 90 days. Any tenancy agreement was terminated effective Tuesday requiring the owner and all tenants to vacate the premises.

Mike Dirkson, manager of the Alberta Sheriff’s Scan Unit for both Calgary and southern Alberta, spoke with reporters about the closure on Tuesday.

“It’s our hopes during that 90 days that we break the cycle of violence and criminality, and drug activity that was occurring at this property, but also give a chance and a break to this community and this neighborhood who have endured this property for an upwards of four years,” said Dirkson.

Lethbridge police officers were stationed at the front of the home where investigators had been collecting evidence to apply for a community safety order.

In January of 2021, Police received the first of five complaints about the property. Information received indicated that there were a lot of people coming to the property for short amounts of time, people at the property were meeting vehicles in the community, around the neighborhood and coming back to the property. There was also a significant increase of police presence in and around the property, and up to 85 calls for service since 2021. 

In early spring of this year, police served the owner of the residence with a warning letter in hopes of opening up communication with the owner and try to solve some of the issues occurring at the property, these efforts were not successful and the activities continued at the property. 

Throughout the spring and fall, investigators continued to collect evidence which allowed and applied for a community safety order, which was granted. It allowed police to close down the property with no one is allowed to live inside of the residence during the allotted time. 

“It can’t not go without saying the help and assistance that we got from Lethbridge Police Service from this file, and that goes for most of our community safety orders, they were instrumental in assisting in getting the evidence needed and the grounds to support a community safety order. Most of our community safety orders were instrumental in assisting in getting the evidence needed and getting the grounds to support a community safety order, that’s definitely appreciated from scan investigators,” said Dirkson.

Asked if there was any evidence of drugs inside of the building and Dirkson responded “I haven’t been inside this morning but in this circumstances they do get notice. This order was granted two weeks ago, it gives the owner the opportunity to pack up some belongings, figure out where they are going to live for the next 90 days, and usually we see a situation where they do clean up the inside of the property to the point where they can leave it for those ninety days, quite often, most evidence and most drugs were taken care of and dealt with before we showed up this morning. We don’t usually see a lot of drugs the morning of a closure. 

November marks the one-year anniversary of the southern Alberta SCAN Unit which is stationed, and based out of Lethbridge, but their responsibilities extend from the B.C. border to Fort Macleod, Taber, Medicine Hat.

This new team was instrumental in  Tuesday’s closure which was one of the first closures that they took on so that’s a reflection of the expansion that the SCAN unit has had throughout Alberta, and just last month, the Red Deer SCAN unit was announced, and is now up and running.