Pubdate: Tue, 12 Dec 2000
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 2000
Contact:  200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3
Fax: (604) 605-2323
Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/
Author: Chad Skelton and Brian Morton

Grow Busters A Success Despite Lack Of Arrests, City Police Say

A police squad that has raided more than 100 marijuana-growing
operations - but hasn't arrested a single grower - has been a success
and will continue its work, Vancouver police said Monday.

"It [Grow Busters] is going to continue, because we consider it a
successful program," Vancouver police spokeswoman Constable Anne
Drennan said.  "Our focus is to take the crime out of the
neighbourhoods and that's what we're doing."

On Monday, the Vancouver Sun reported that the year-old Grow Busters
program hadn't arrested a single suspect because of a controversial
department decision that police resources are better spent shutting
down more growing operations than trying to build criminal cases
against offenders.

As a result, Grow Busters does not engage in surveillance of suspected
growing operations to observe who visits them and raids operations
during the day, even though police know growers usually maintain their
plants at night.

While careful not to criticize Vancouver police directly, drug
investigators with other police forces have suggested the policy
allows marijuana growers to get away with their crimes.

"I can't speak for other police forces," said Corporal John Furac of
Surrey RCMPs drug squad.  "But our intent is to put people in jail.
Running around just taking the plants doesn't do anything."

Because they are not building criminal cases, Grow Busters usually
only seizes marijuana plants and high intensity lamps (which are a
fire hazard) from the operations it raids - leaving most of the
pot-growing machinery in place.

This has led, in at least one case, to a grower coming back to the
house days later to recover his equipment.

Drennan conceded Monday that the Grow Busters approach could just be
shifting the problem to other neighbourhoods.

"That [moving the problem elsewhere] is possible," she said.  "But
we're taking them out of neighbourhoods where they're most affected.
We're forcing them to relocate.  We're hitting them where they hurt."

Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen, whose city council approved budget
increases for Grow Busters earlier this year, also expressed support
for the program.

"They're making a judgment call on what's an effective use of their
resources," Owen said.  "It's an operational call they have to make
and I support that ...The public want action.  They want us to do something."

Grow busters raids growing operations during the day, accompanied by
city staff who shut off utilities and declare the property unfit for
occupancy.

Landlords must then pay a $309 fee to the city to have their property
declared safe again and $200 to reconnect the electricity and gas.

Both Drennan and Owen said one of the reasons police have shifted
their focus away from arrests is because of the low sentences
marijuana growers receive from judges when they get to trial.

"Is it a deterrent to go to court and get a fine of $3,000?" asked
Owen.

Courts have been lenient on marijuana growers in the past (a Vancouver
Sun investigation last year found only one in five growers received
jail sentences while most got fines).

But courts appear to have adopted a tougher attitude lately,
sentencing some growers to one or two years in jail.

Drennan said the neighbourhoods targeted by Grow Busters are positive
about the program.  "The feedback (to Grow Busters) has been
overwhelmingly positive.  We believe it's making a difference.

Chris Taulu, executive director of the Collingwood community police
office, which assists Grow Busters, said people in the neighbourhood
support what police are doing.

She said residents are most interested in seeing growers being forced
out of their neighbourhood and less worried about whether they are
charged criminally.

While Grow Busters' investigations have not led to any criminal
charges over the past year, some growers are still arrested and
charged in separate investigations carried out by Vancouver police
drug squad.

Drennan said that while the focus of Grow Busters is to move in and
remove drugs from a growing operation, the squad does pass on relevant
information to detectives.

"When there's clear evidence to indicate someone found there is
involved, it's turned over to the drug squad to obtain evidence for a
charge," she said. 
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