Problem properties to be more easily targeted

PRINCE GEORGE— A proposed act aims to make British Columbians feel safer reporting drug labs and other nuisance properties, giving authorities more powers to shut down those sites.

The Community Safety Act (CSA) focuses on targeting the sites of an array of activities conducted by or on behalf of gangs and organized crime. The proposed amendments and implementation of the CSA will enable anyone to submit a confidential complaint to a provincial government unit that will enforce the act. 

“People living near ‘crack shacks’ and other dangerous nuisance properties have been waiting more than half a decade for this law to actually help them,” Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth says. “We’ve moved quickly to modernize the act to address the current realities of organized crime in B.C., and to ensure that it’s fair, efficient and minimizes administrative burden.”

Specified nuisance or criminal activities include drug production and trafficking, possession of illegal firearms or explosives, after-hours sales of liquor, providing liquor or drugs to minors.