The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati city officials are starting a new approach to shutting down drug houses.

Councilman David Pepper calls it a "crack house crackdown," and it involves bringing building and health inspectors together with police to shut down uninhabitable structures. The drug houses could then be condemned - and ultimately demolished, through the Hamilton County Municipal Court's new housing docket, city officials told City Council's Law and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

"At least 99 percent of all drug houses also have building code violations, and they can be shut down rather quickly," William V. Langevin, the city's director of buildings and inspections. "Once the Police Department completes its sweep-through, we come in and close it down. That's the whole point."