Lake Stevens police commander addresses ‘Heroin Here’ sign

By Joanna Small

A Lake Stevens man who wanted a drug house in his neighborhood cleaned up decided to get the attention of police by putting a sign on the roof that was pretty hard to ignore. It read: “Heroin Here.”

As a result, two people inside were arrested on outstanding warrants and the rest were evicted.

They posted the sign and we responded like this! pic.twitter.com/a7ZN1M4z0G

— Lake Stevens Police (@LKS_POLICE) July 31, 2017

The property owner’s son installed the sign; Lake Stevens police saw it, made arrests, and the city condemned it.

Sheri DeGraf, who lives in Watermarke across the street, couldn’t be more pleased.

“Oh, definitely, especially for the ones with little kids. There’s enough happening in the world you don’t want that going on across the street from you,” she said.

This is not the first time frustrated citizens have put up controversial signs, sometimes to elicit a police response. In 2006, an Everett man was so fed up with a drug house near his business he made a banner that didn’t exactly mince words. It read “crack” with an arrow pointing at the offending property.

Other times the purpose is just to make a point, like the “Welcome to Tweakersville” sign outside an Everett business that caused quite a controversy last week.

But actions are stronger than words, and in Lake Stevens words proved to be the catalyst for action.

“I think so, yeah, from what it looks like,” DeGraf said of the sign that led to the arrests, the eviction, and the boarding up of the “heroin house.”

Police action delayed by paperwork

Lake Stevens Police Commander Jeffrey Beazizo told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that the department was in the process of taking care of the problem property. However, the “long process” of paperwork to get people out of the house was slowing things down. The sign — apparently — helped speed things up a bit.

“This drew more attention,” he explained.

Listen to the interview with Beazizo here.