Pubdate: Mon, 14 Aug 2006
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

CATCH THE CROOKS - THAT'S ALL WE NEED

Marijuana grow-ops -- in particular, the indoor garden-variety 
grow-ops so often found within residential neighbourhoods across 
southern Ontario -- are a blight upon the landscape. They are illegal 
because the cultivation and sale of marijuana is illegal; they are a 
health issue cause of mould buildup; they are a safety hazard because 
of the threat of fouled, jerry-rigged electrical-bypass systems that 
can lead to deadly fires; and they are an enormous nuisance for 
police because they often coexist undetected in neighbourhoods of 
backsplits and bungalows, blending into a landscape of pets, 
preschoolers and unwary families.

But grow-ops do exist -- and will continue to exist -- because they 
are enormously profitable. So much expensive product can be generated 
from within a single dwelling that marijuana-growing criminals often 
will not hesitate to buy and use high-end, high-priced houses as 
camouflage for their activities.

Into this backdrop comes a recent report out of Guelph in which Rob 
Davis, chief of the Guelph police force, said that his department now 
has a website posted that lists every former grow-op dwelling in the 
city. The website, Chief Davis suggested, "is a proactive way to keep 
our citizens informed of where this activity has been happening in 
Guelph and to help ensure that the unsuspecting citizen . . . is not 
buying one of these places."

The list includes 22 addresses in and around Guelph where police 
found grow-ops over a six-month period this year. Police in London 
publicize a similar list; police in Waterloo Region do not -- and we 
would suggest that they need be in no hurry to duplicate the Guelph 
initiative. Here's why:

Once a house is identified as a grow-op -- with the owner/renter 
charged and dealt with by the courts -- police involvement 
effectively comes to an end. The house, typically, is either sold off 
into the market or, in the case of a landlord caught unaware of a 
tenant's pot-growing activities, it might be renovated to bring the 
house up to standard for a subsequent tenant.

Whatever standards might need to be met for either resale or tenancy 
are those established by a municipality; they are the responsibility 
of the landlord, the potential new buyer or renter, and the realtors 
who may be involved. In the absence of continuing illegality, there 
is no role here for the police to continue to play.

This is one of those cases where good intentions can create 
regrettable outcomes. Police in Guelph do not publicize the addresses 
of every house in the city that may have either faulty wiring or 
dangerous mould -- and to make public the addresses of dwellings 
where a pot-growing crime may once have taken place just doesn't pass 
the test of close scrutiny.

Citizens want one thing from their police -- to investigate crimes, 
to catch criminals and to bring them to justice. They don't need a 
public website to identify an address where a crime was once 
committed. And they don't need whole neighbourhoods -- and 
law-abiding citizens' home values -- adversely affected as an 
unintended consequence of law-enforcement zeal.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman