Midwest City Police To Start Issuing 'Disorderly House' Citations

Wednesday, July 20th 2016, 6:21 pm

By: News 9

Midwest City Police will soon crack down on trouble tenants and property owners. With the help from a new city ordinance, police can hold them accountable for the frequent crimes happening at their address.

There's always that house in the neighborhood; the one police are often outside of and neighbors consider a nuisance.

In Midwest City, there's now something police can do to cut down on chronic crime neighborhoods.

“This new ordinance what it provides for us the ability to address these nuisance houses that we spend a lot of man power a lot of hours on and address the landlord, the tenant, and or owner,” said Chief Brandon Clabes, Midwest City Police.

Properties will now be labeled as a “disorderly house”, if police cite the owners or tenants for three misdemeanor or felony crimes within 90 days of the first citation.

The violations range from public intoxication, to squatting, and to more serious crimes like assault and battery.

If there is a conviction from one of the crimes, police can add on another charge of maintaining a disorderly house.

“We just wanted to try to enhance our ability to deal with some of the neighborhood issues that we experience in the community,” said Guy Henson, Midwest City City Manager

Police will send letters to the property owner after the first violation of the ordinance to hopefully stop the problem before the third strike.

“We keep going to these same houses we keep taking action but these people they are not evicted they continue to live there and it may be rental property, you got people that are good neighbors saying 'Oh my gosh I’m frustrated',” said Chief Clabes.

A frustration the city and police hope to ease by leaning on violators to clean up their act.

The ordinance will go in to effect in a month on August 20.