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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake