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Drug houses draw crime and depreciates the value of our homes and neighborhoods. Learn how to recognize a drug house and what you can do to help. Just say, "Not in my neighborhood!" Drug houses depreciates the value of our homes, our neighborhoods and attracts crime. If left untouched they entice other drug houses and more drug users to spread like a cancer infecting the entire community. Recognize the signs. Here are some tips that may help to recognize a drug house: High Motor Vehicle Traffic is where there are a large number of vehicles coming and going at all hours. Usually visitors do not stay long. Sometimes you may witness someone waiting in the car while another person enters the house and leaves shortly after. Pedestrian Traffic from visitors that sometimes may park their car on another street and approach the house on foot. Shading Windows or darkening windows to give total privacy. Signals such as porch lights that are turned off during peak hours and are turned on when closed for business. Exchanging of Vehicles is where the resident will arrive in one car only to leave in another car. Unfamiliar Cars parking on your street conducting suspicious activities. Legal Resident may be hard to define because of the number of people coming and going. Drug Paraphernalia found along street, sidewalks or in your front yard.
Sometimes the Police are unaware of a drug house and once they are, it may take months to rid a neighborhood of a drug house. By constant awareness the process will go much quicker than it would without your continued efforts. Take Notes of the license plate numbers from the vehicles that come and go, and/or make and model of the vehicles. Also note the times and date of suspicious activities. Notify your Neighborhood Association's Police Liaison and ask that they contact the proper law enforcers. Call 911 during suspicious activities. Porch Lights should be used by every neighbor. Talk to your neighbors and let them be aware of your suspicions and what they can do to help. Contact Neighbors in the surrounding area that may notice unfamiliar cars parking along their street and conducting suspicious activities. Contact The Landlord, if it is a rental. Contact the housing authority, if it is low income housing to notify them of your suspicions. Apply Pressure by notifying the necessary authorities if and whenever there is a violation of city or code ordinances, children involved, or neglected and abused animals.
You may have already rid your street of one drug house, but that doesn't mean another won't move in. |
Even the best prevention programs will fail without strong, effective law enforcement and neighbors willing to assist in those efforts. Build community strength by participating actively in your neighborhood. Educate and involve your neighbors. Clean streets and establish well-maintained homes and properties. Be Aware of the rentals on your street and let the landlord know that you'd be happy to watch over their property and have a way to contact them. Join Forces with neighbors and organize a Block Watch. For more information contact the Crime Prevention Unit at 425-257-8416.
Never confront the resident of a suspected drug house or their visitors one-on-one. Remember that they are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Note particular patterns in traffic (ie: Friday nights are the busiest). And don't be weary of calling 911 during these active periods. Be patient with the Police investigation. Although you may not see results happening quickly, rest assured that the Police are busy building a solid case against the criminals. Try to involve neighbors in every aspect concerning the community. There is strength in numbers. Become involved in your neighborhood association. For more information contact the Office of Neighborhoods at 425-257-8717.
Illegal drug trafficking is estimated by the General Accounting office to be an $80 billion per annual industry in the United States. United States agencies estimate that they are able to interdict no more than 5 to 15 percent of all hard drugs flowing into the country. Of the over 1.7 million people incarcerated in America, 80% are imprisoned because of some involvement with drug law violations. The equation that follows is frightening - there are as many as 2.5 million "orphans" of the drug war. Every year, 8,000 to 14,000 people die from illegal drugs in this country. The average "dealer" holds a low-wage job and sells part-time to obtain drugs for his or her own use. Source: Reuter, P., MacCoun, R., & Murphy, P., Money from Crime: A Study of the Economics of Drug Dealing in Washington D.C., Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation (1990), pp. 49-50. In 1997 there were approximately 27 drug houses closed in the historical Riverside neighborhood with the combined efforts between neighbors and Police.
Child Protective Services, 425-339-3900 Code Compliance, 425-257-8680 Crime Prevention Unit, 425-257-8416 Everett Housing Authority, 425-303-1102 Office of Neighborhoods, 425-257-8717 Police non-emergency, 425-257-8400 When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better. --Pauline R. Kezer |
Creating Drug Free Communities:
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