Salem couple fights back against drug activity outside condo
When Shawn Meenan and Rachel Shellabarger purchased an affordable two-bedroom Salem condo with water views in 2015, they never expected they’d be barricading their doors every night against possible intruders.
The couple told The Boston Globe they feel unsafe due to what they say is frequent drug activity in and around their building — located in a densely populated section of Salem known as the Point.
In addition to using boards to shore up their condo’s doors, the couple also uses a $1,700 video surveillance system to monitor what they describe as the open selling of drugs.
Repeated complaints to Salem police, other condo owners, and the condo trustees, they say, have done nothing to help.
A Salem police captain defended the department’s efforts to monitor criminal activity in the area, and said the Point is not a dangerous place.
Meenan and Shellabarger say they can’t afford to leave their condo at this time, but Shellabarger says the pair can’t live like this forever.
“I have never felt so out-of-control helpless,” Shellabarger told the Globe. “I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”
Read the full Boston Globe story here.
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