Pubdate: Fri, 11 May 2001
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.vancouversun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Chad Skelton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

DRUG RAIDERS 'ROUTINELY' DESTROYED PRIVATE PROPERTY

The Practice 'Will Damage This Department's Credibility,' Senior 
Police Officers Were Warned

In their fight against the city's pot trade, Vancouver police 
conducted searches without warrants and destroyed private property -- 
even though senior officers were warned the actions might be against 
the law, according to documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

Both practices have since been halted, police said this week.

The documents are contained in 267 pages of internal police e-mails 
and memos obtained by The Sun under the Freedom of Information Act.

A memo sent last Sept. 6 to Inspector Wayne Melymick, head of special 
investigations, raises concerns about the destruction of property by 
police officers on the Grow Busters team, which was set up to put 
pressure on growing operations -- by seizing marijuana and shutting 
off the home's power -- without pursuing criminal charges.

The officer, who writes that he was seconded to the Grow Busters team 
for the month of August, recounts that during 36 raids he witnessed 
property being routinely destroyed.

"The police and city electrical personnel ... disabled virtually any 
equipment used for the growing of the marijuana including light pots, 
fans, furnace fans, water pumps, shrouds, wires, cords, ionizers and 
timers," he wrote. "Most of the items were destroyed by being hit 
with hammers or stepped on to break them."

The memo's author says that while he believes police have the 
authority to seize marijuana and growing equipment as evidence, "I 
can find no authorization for police members ... to destroy property, 
even if it is property used to produce an illegal substance."

"I discussed this issue with Constable [name deleted]. He stated that 
the city electrical technicians were 'making the equipment safe.' In 
reality, unplugging the power and waiting 20 minutes makes all the 
equipment in a grow operation 'safe'," he wrote. "The goal appears to 
be to make the equipment unusable. [This] may be effective in 
frustrating the drug dealers, which is a good thing, but in the long 
run this practice will damage this department's credibility and could 
result in both civil and possible criminal sanctions against our 
members if continued. Inevitably, we will be questioned on our 
practices by the courts, the press or both. ... The damage to 
property is indefensible."

The name of the memo's author was deleted from the copy provided to 
The Sun, but the author's badge number, 1662, remained.

That is the badge number of Detective Constable Mike Pollard of the 
drug squad. Reached by phone earlier this week, Pollard refused to 
comment on whether he authored the memo.

Inspector Val Harrison, coordinator of the Grow Busters program, said 
this week the department, on legal advice, has stopped destroying 
growing equipment and now simply seizes marijuana plants and the 
equipment it finds.

And she disputed the memo's suggestion that property was smashed.

"There was never wanton destruction," she said. "It was always 
carefully controlled dismantling of the grow. ... Nothing was ever 
smashed."

In some cases, police have left the growing equipment as it is, 
because they did not have enough room to store it all.

That poses its own problems, however, as growers have in some cases 
gone back to recover their equipment days later.

The documents obtained by The Sun also refer to a brief pilot project 
- -- from November 1999 to February 2000 -- during which police entered 
suspected growing operations without a warrant.

They gained entry by going to the suspected growing operations with 
members of the Vancouver fire department, who have the legal 
authority to enter a premises when they believe there is a fire 
hazard inside.

Upon gaining entry, police seized the marijuana plants while a city 
inspector dismantled the equipment.

In a memo dated Dec 9, 1999 -- from which the names of both the 
author and the recipient have been deleted -- an officer says members 
of the department's soft drug squad are strongly opposed to the pilot 
project.

"These are warrantless entries to dwelling houses being done 
primarily to control criminal behaviour," the memo states. "The 
Supreme Court has greatly restricted police powers with regards to 
entries into dwelling houses, even when warrants have been obtained. 
It is the opinion of all members of this unit that the courts would 
take a very dim view of police actions should this project come to 
light."

On Feb. 2, 2000, another memo indicates, the city received a legal 
opinion that police had no authority to seize property without a 
warrant and the pilot project was scrapped.

Harrison said she did not know how many growing operations were 
entered without a warrant during the pilot project, but a memo dated 
Dec. 14, 1999 states that -- up to that date -- seven warrantless 
searches had been conducted by the police.

Documents obtained by The Sun also raise questions about safety and 
the environment.

In a memo sent to deputy chief John Unger on August 23, another 
officer whose name was deleted said he fears for the safety of 
untrained patrol officers dismantling growing operations.

"Patrol members ... are not adhering to the ... policy whereby the 
Narcotics Unit 2 [the unit in charge of soft drug investigations] is 
to be called in to dismantle grows," the officer, identified only as 
the intelligence coordinator for the drug squad, writes. "This is a 
major safety issue. The possibility of our members encountering a 
booby-trapped premises, and facing dangers from electrocution, 
poisoning, and exposure to hazardous chemicals, explosive chemicals, 
herbicides and pesticides is high. ... I realize that some of our 
members are home electricians, but I don't think that we should wait 
to find out what their skill level was in the hospital or morgue."

In an interview last week, Harrison said, to her knowledge, untrained 
officers had never dismantled electrical equipment.

"It never happened," she said.

The memo's author also raised concerns about the environment.

"In Grow Busters cases the chemicals are ... in some cases being 
dumped down the toilet," the memo states. "One of the main concerns 
of this community is environmental and safety hazards posed by 
marijuana productions. Ironically, by the improper disposal of 
chemicals and equipment by our members, their actions are potentially 
creating the same hazards that the citizens are fearing. One cannot 
plead ignorance when there are trained personnel available to deal 
with these situations."

Harrison said chemicals were dumped only once - in a rare situation 
where some were inadvertently spilled. She said officers have been 
told not to do it again.

"That was an unfortunate incident that happened once," she said.

On Thursday, The Sun published excerpts from e-mails and memos that 
showed several senior drug investigators strongly opposed the 
department's Grow Busters team.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe