Zanesville Police Dept. cracking down on nuisance homes

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The Zanesville Police Department is continuing their efforts to make neighborhoods safer.

Last month the ZPD received a temporary injunction for a nuisance abandonment at a house on Homewood Ave., and Chief of Police Tony Coury says that they have more homes on their radar if homeowners do not cooperate and stop their activities.

“We’re trying to find these homes, or we’re getting these homes and people’s complaints, and we’re looking at them and kind of a history on them. And if they meet the criteria of a nuisance abatement we are sending them letters through (John) Litle’s office…to do something to slow these houses down, to stop their activities, or we will take them to court,” Chief Coury explained.

The types of calls and the severity of calls received by the Zanesville Police Department for a given home determine whether Chief Coury feels it’s appropriate to take action. Whether it’s noise complaints, a consistent high volume of “guests,” or drug trafficking, Chief Coury says if it doesn’t fit the description of a normal home or residence, a nuisance abatement could be the course of action.

Coury adds the homes being reviewed are not confined to one particular area of Zanesville, and they know that the challenge will continue to exist even as they shut down more homes.

“Right now we’re in all four corners; we’re on Baker St., we’re on Homewood (Ave.), Taylor (St.), and Wabash (Ave.),” Coury revealed. “We understand that once I shut down a house, they’re going to go somewhere else– we know that. But we’re looking to make sure that the people that live in these neighborhoods are not inconvenienced by somebody’s drug habit, and somebody’s drug sales.”

Just this week there was a meeting with the owner’s at the home on Taylor St. An agreement was made that the house would be shut down and closed-up for a period of six months.

To be able to move forward with a nuisance abatement, Coury says they must prove that the house is in fact a “nuisance,” to which they will go back and look at the history of the home for the past 12-24 months and show that call volume and severity has increased during that time span.

The ZPD has been working in conjunction with the city Law Director as well as the Prosecutor’s Office to make these homes a bigger focus.