Attorney General Beau Biden used a property in one New Castle neighborhood Monday to highlight the impact of the state’s Nuisance Abatement Program.
Biden says the program allowed law enforcement to shutdown a property in the Garfield Park area that was home to a steady stream of criminal activity.
Since Fall 2009 police were dispatched to the house at 21 Memorial Drive 177 times and arrested 40 different people for a variety of crimes, including prostitution and drug offenses. The county also used its disorderly premises ordinance to cite the property's owner, 68 year-old Paul Bembry, for illegal conduct five times since 2011. This proved ineffective as a recent spike in reports of illegal activities on the property. Those reports prompted the use of the Nuisance Abatement Program.
“The owner of this property had a clear choice. They [could] either be responsible with their property, shut down the criminal activity that was clearly taking place there, or we’re going to come after them. And that’s what we are doing, we’re coming after them,” said Biden.
Biden added there are no set conditions that trigger use of the Nuisance Abatement Program. Decisions, he noted, are made on a case-by-case basis.
The owner of the property is, in certain cases, separated from their property," said Biden. "The damages we seek are equivalent to the amount of the value of their home so in certain cases the deed has been turned over to not-for-profits to actually do something positive with (the property).”
Although the owner of 21 Memorial Drive property has been removed, Biden is uncertain what will ultimately happen to the property.
Since an enhancement in 2007, The Nuisance Abatement Program has been used to address 125 properties deemed nuisances to their neighborhoods throughout the state. The majority of those interventions were done with cooperation from the property owner.
