The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit helps Albertans take back their neighbourhoods by dealing with problem properties.
Under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act , SCAN targets and shuts down properties that are regularly used for illegal activities such as:
- drugs
- gangs
- prostitution
- child exploitation
If there’s a suspicious property in your neighbourhood, don’t investigate it or approach its occupants.
To file a complaint
After you file a complaint:
- a SCAN investigator will contact you confidentially and discreetly
- you won’t be called as a witness or identified to any police agency or court
Signs of illegal activity
If a property is being used for illegal activity, you may notice a high frequency or combination of some of these activities:
- frequent visitors at all times of the day and night
- frequent late night activity
- windows blackened or curtains always drawn
- visitors with expensive vehicles
- unfriendly people who appear to be secretive
- people watching passing cars suspiciously
- extensive investment in home security
- strange odours coming from the house or garbage
- garbage that contains numerous bottles and containers, particularly chemical containers
- putting garbage in a neighbour's collection area
How SCAN operates
After receiving a complaint about a suspicious property, SCAN investigators can:
- begin an investigation
- gather information
- issue a warning letter
- mediate the dispute
- apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench for a community safety order (CSO)
- work with the landlord to facilitate an eviction or resolution
- take any measures necessary to safely and effectively close the property
Note: A CSO is a court order that requires the occupants to vacate and allow SCAN to seize the property for up to 90 days; it can also impose conditions on occupancy or tenancy.
Two SCAN units, operating out of northern and southern Alberta , work collaboratively with municipal law enforcement and social service agencies. Many of the investigators are former police officers with extensive investigative and surveillance experience.
