Health Inspections, Permits to Be New Tools Against Crack Houses

People who want to make crack must get a permit and open their drug dens to health inspections or face fines of $10,000 a day under new regulations intended to help police gain entry to crack houses.

The King County regulations take effect April 1, allowing time for them to be amended and maybe even scrapped after a review by prosecutors, said Charles Kleeberg, environmental health director for the county and Seattle.

Kleeberg, a lawyer, said preliminary research indicated that no similar measure is on the books anywhere in the country.

Dr. Bud Nicola, director of the Seattle-King County Health Department, said health officials would be notified by police “that a crack operation was going on in a house.”

The department then would notify the owner of an apparent violation of health regulations and order him or her to produce a plan for reducing the health risk. A $100 review fee also is required.

“We would not expect to get a plan,” Nicola said. “We would then start the fine process.”

The measure, adopted Wednesday by the county Health Board, offers another way for police to gain entry to crack houses and gather evidence needed to close them, said Cynthia Sullivan, a County Council member who is chairwoman of the Health Board.

“The Board of Health has far broader abilities in many cases to enter a residence than the police do,” she said. “They don’t have to have evidence of criminal activity. They only have to have evidence of unhealthful activity.”

The regulations were adopted despite requests by Robert Stier, a senior deputy prosecutor, and county police Maj. Jackson Beard for further review. Stier said he was not opposed to the measure but wanted to be sure it could withstand a court challenge.

The proposal would apply outside the city of Seattle. About 500,000 of the county’s 1.4 million residents live in the city, which is governed by a separate Health Board. A similar measure will be proposed in the city, officials said.