Their Nuisance Abatement program combines civil remedies and innovative problem solving with traditional policing and criminal prosecution to address the quality of life in communities throughout Connecticut.
[4] Aurora Avenue (U.S. Route 99) was once a bustling commercial thoroughfare and the main route into Seattle until I-5 bypassed this main street in 1968, sending the neighbourhood into decline and driving prices at a strip of twenty motels in one section of town to the point where they would become a temptingly-inexpensive base of operations for drug dealers and street prostitution,[5] much to the dismay of local residents, businesses and neighbourhood-watch volunteers.
Like other municipalities, Seattle initially adopted a nuisance abatement strategy of attempting to shut down the most problematic motels under pretexts such as public health and fire safety violations or using taxation laws.
Of one locally-notorious group of five motels under common management, Seattle (Black Angus) Motor Inn was on leased land, after some success in using health code violations to shut it down temporarily[7] it closed permanently after the owner of the land (not the management of the business) caved to pressure from City Hall; the Wallingford Inn was sold;[8] the Isabella Motel and Italia Motel were closed as part of an out-of-court settlement of 152 criminal charges brought by the city for tax violations; the Fremont (Thunderbird) Inn[9] was sold after foreclosure and ultimately demolished.
Working on a referral basis, the police member would assess a problem address and contact the organization with the strongest legislation with which to deal with the concern.
Police were responsible for providing a safe work environment, such as a health inspector assessing a known drug house, and ensuring that community stakeholders were apprised of any actions taken based on complaints made to the respective agencies.
CNAP spearheads a number of specialized programs, including Taking Out Urban Gang Headquarters (TOUGH), Violence and Crime Activated Tenant Eviction (VACATE), Problem Properties Resolution Team (PPRT), and The Abandoned Building Task Force (ABTF).
[13] The concept of nuisance abatement received national recognition following the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service ceremony, in which both recipients—ProPublica and the New York Daily News—were awarded "for uncovering, primarily through the work of reporter Sarah Ryley, widespread abuse of eviction rules by the police to oust hundreds of people, most of them poor minorities."