Civil Remedies, is a strategy utilized under the Strategic Initiatives to Prevent Drug Overdoses (SIPDO) Grant to induce changes to property conditions and practices that facilitate crime. Effectively enforcing local regulatory codes can reduce drug activity occurring at real-property locations, such as individual addresses or geographical areas.
These interventions increase the capacity of the local community to act as informal and formal agents of crime prevention. The local community is often the first party to notice the problems. This strategy was implemented in Keokuk County with the help of the SIPDO Coordinator and Prevention Supervisor, the Keokuk County Mental Health Coalition, community members and stakeholders, along with city leadership to address the priority area of methamphetamines in the city of What Cheer.
The SIPDO grant has been utilized to assist in funding the abandoned buildings project within the community. This project is designed to identify, take possession of, and remove areas where methamphetamine manufacture, use, and/or sales take place.