Complaints of suspected drug and criminal activities have led the Alberta Sheriffs SCAN Unit to shut down a house in the Town of Olds.
As of noon on Tuesday, October 7th all people are barred from the property at 5222 42nd Street until the 90-day closure period ends on January 5th, 2026. The 90-day closure is the maximum allowed under legislation. The property will then still remain under a community safety order for another two years until January 5th, 2028.
Brent Pickard, Inspector with SCAN, highlights the fact that three search warrants have been executed there between January of last year and April of this year. He says “SCAN began investigating it in March of 2023 and they were able to get evidence of drug activity at the property including with the RCMP warrants in which they got drug paraphernalia, stolen property. Two of the warrants, they actually got firearms and ammunition out of the property. Extremely serious.” RCMP attended the property 65 times for various types of calls for service during the period of time stretching from February of 2022 and May of 2025.
He adds, this is the first community safety order closure in Olds. According to Pickard, this property has been a long-time problem. In April of 2025, he says “we spoke with the owner and served her with the SCAN warning letter which said she has to take steps to fix the problem or we would be attending court to get a community safety order on the property. Following speaking with the owner and attempting to work with the owner, the problems at the property continued. We continued to investigate. We were able to determine drug activity still occurring from the property. At that point we applied for a community safety order on the property.” It was granted by Court of Kings’s Bench on September 26th, 2025. Under it all individuals must vacate the premises, including the property owner. The property is boarded up, fenced and locks are changed, plus SCAN members will continue to monitor it for activity with the investigation remaining ongoing.
Pickard points out that the goal of the community safety order is to break the cycle of drug activity coming to this property. He says “unfortunately, properties like this they attract a drug sub-culture that knows to attend this property, continually shows up, stays for short periods of time, and leaves. For the neighbourhood, unfortunately, it brings the criminal aspect of break-ins, stolen vehicles, the potential of violence due to the drug activity lifestyle, so we are hoping the community safety order will break this cycle permanently.”
Pickard calls it a really great collaboration between the Olds RCMP, Olds Bylaw, and the Sheriffs SCAN Unit. He says “it is everybody working together to give this really nice community a break from the activities that have been going on here for way too long.” SCAN is the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods unit of the Alberta Sheriffs.
