Calgary drug house visited by police 115 times last year shut down by Alberta Sheriffs

The owners of a house in northeast Calgary that police were called to 115 times last year alone have been slapped with a court order mandating that it be boarded up for three months.

The Alberta Sheriffs' Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit obtained a court order on Thursday giving it the authority to change the locks and put up a fence around the property at 5504 Centre Street North, the province said in a release.

Police responded to many incidents at the house in Thorncliffe-Greenview last year, including reports of robbery, breaking and entering, possession of a controlled substance and theft of a motor vehicle. 

SCAN has fielded more than 30 complaints — the largest number it has ever received — and letters from people in the community detailing criminal activity associated with this property. 

"Recently at this location, a woman sustained a wound to her thigh after being attacked with a machete, and a male suffered serious injuries after taking a bullet to his face," the province said in a release.

Alberta Health Services has also issued several orders declaring the property unfit for human habitation, most recently on Jan. 21.

Nobody is allowed on the property without permission from the sheriffs until the closure ends on June 2.

During the 90-day closure, sheriffs can give the owner and a realtor access for the purpose of showing it to potential buyers.

If the owner does not sell the property, the court order gives authorities the option of applying to court for a five-year ban on renting the house and a five-year community safety order.

"This is precisely the sort of situation that the SCAN unit was created to fix: a location where criminal activity and violence has become a seemingly everyday occurrence," Justice Minister Kaycee Madu said in the release.

"Law-abiding Albertans should not have to tolerate such a level of chaos and danger in their communities."