Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2007
Source: Hope Standard (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Hope Standard
Contact:  http://www.hopestandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1397
Author: Jeff Nagel

GROW-OP WAR IS WON

Surrey Cities Warned Of Privacy Challenges

Local cities are winning the war against crime on some fronts, but 
face setbacks on others, according to panelists at the Union of B.C. 
Municipalities convention Tuesday.

Marijuana growers seem to be in rapid retreat, especially in Surrey, 
where civic officials are poised to declare victory over local grow-ops.

The most powerful weapon hasn't been increased conventional policing, 
but rather the threat of electrical inspections and service 
disconnections for residential homes that B.C. Hydro records show 
have extreme power consumption, a tell-tale sign of a grow-op.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis told delegates the 1,000 suspected 
grow-ops identified in his city - which were generating at least $600 
million a year in illicit revenue - are now thought to be mostly 
dismantled after about a year and a half.

In many cases growers flee without waiting for inspectors to show up.

"By the end of November, we expect we're going to be done and we're 
going to be looking for work," Garis said.

He said the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative teams have succeeded in 
running off the grow-ops at no cost to the criminal justice system 
and at a fraction of the cost of a police investigation.

He suggested other cities lodge Freedom of Information requests 
through B.C. Hydro to find out the number of likely local grow-ops.

The tactic began as a means to protect firefighters and other homes 
from fires that frequently arose from badly wired grow-ops.

Civic officials concluded the justice system provided virtually no 
deterrent to pot growers even when police had the time to investigate.

It's estimated two per cent of B.C.'s total electricity production is 
being consumed by grow-ops.

A move by B.C. Hydro towards real-time digital power meters is 
expected to help flag suspected grow-ops more quickly.

Garis said Surrey is now looking at regulations to restrict stores 
that sell hydroponic equipment. B.C. has 50 times as many such 
outlets as Washington state and 34 times as many as in Alberta.

Meanwhile, cities are being warned that they may run into trouble 
when they try to track criminals using techniques that may run afoul 
of privacy laws.

New Westminster recently lost a court challenge of a bylaw that 
required pawn shops to record information on customers to aid police 
investigations.

Lawyer James Yearley said similar challenges may crop up elsewhere, 
and even recordings of video cameras used to counter crime may be 
deemed an unreasonable search or seizure under the law.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart