Safe Streets Now Program
Safe Streets Now is an Oakland-based organization pioneered in 1989. The program was created to help citizens fight back against entrenched drug activity without relying on the criminal justice system to make results stick.
Molly Wetzel, founder and executive director of Safe Streets Now, provides training for law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
The program was developed to treat neighborhood crime as a problem of private property management. The program creates a step-by-step formula for demanding better management from landlords whose properties attract drug activity and other crime.
Here's how the program works
Neighbors discreetly monitor a property, keeping logs of possible illegal activity. When enough evidence has been gathered, neighbors send a demand letter to the property owners asking them to clean up the property and evict the problem tenants.
If the property owners fail to comply or fail to resolve the problems, the people go to small claims court and argue that the owners are maintaining a public nuisance by allowing illegal activity to occur on their property.
Under the rules of small claims court, each neighbor on the claim is eligible for up to $5,000 in damages. The judge has no power to close down a home, but the threat of huge financial penalties often compels the owners to step in and take care of the problems.
Concord Police implemented the Safe Streets Now program in January 1993. The first case brought to small claims court against the owners of an apartment complex resulted in a successful judgment for the neighbors!
Community Workshop
Concord Police Department's Community Action and Awareness Bureau has developed a community workshop for citizens: How to remove a "drug house" from your neighborhood. The workshop is designed to provide neighborhood groups with a safe, fast and effective step-by-step approach that will help rid a neighborhood of a drug/gang house and prevent it from coming back.
The workshop covers the following topics
- The "business" of drugs
- How to organize a neighborhood
- How to safely and legally document a drug related nuisance
- How to go to small claims court, win, and close down the drug house
- How to collect a judgment.
Steps to Begin a Safe Streets Now Program
- It takes just one call from a citizen to activate the program.
- A Safe Streets Now Workshop is scheduled for the neighborhood. A neighborhood team is formed and an action plan is developed.
- Neighbors document drug dealing or suspicious actions via an activity log
- Team sends a letter and activity logs to property owner requesting action.
- Property owners join the team and work together with neighbors to make the neighborhood clean, safe and healthy, or property owners don't take any action at all.
- If property owners don't respond, neighbors go to small claims court.
Conclusion
The Concord Police Department wants to work with you to improve the quality of life in our community. For additional information on the Safe Streets Now Program, contact Safe Street Sgt. at (925) 671-3032.
