Pubdate: Tue, 05 Feb 2008
Source: Richmond News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.richmond-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244
Author: Nelson Bennett
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)

WARRANTLESS SEARCH RAISES QUESTIONS

City Bylaw Allows RCMP, Fire to Inspect Home If Hydro Use Deemed High

If the Jensen family is guilty of anything, it's that they are 
ordinary, say Fay and Lee Jensen.

They run a business in Vancouver, pay their taxes and volunteer their time.

They admit they use a lot of electricity but didn't think that might 
be a crime, until last week, when the RCMP showed up at their home on 
Goldstream Drive.

"It was such a bizarre experience," Fay Jensen said of an inspection 
involving the RCMP, Richmond Fire-Rescue and City of Richmond.

The inspections are part of a crackdown on marijuana grow operations 
and are permitted under a bylaw that the B.C. Civil Liberties 
Association suspects may be unconstitutional.

Jensen was at home having a shower on Jan. 28 when she heard her dogs 
whining. When she looked out the window, she saw two uniformed 
officials, including a fire inspector, looking around her house 
outside. She poked her head out a window and asked the fire inspector 
if there was a problem.

"He said, 'Yeah, you're consuming too much hydro.' It totally took me 
off guard," Jensen recalls.

The inspector started asking questions, like how many people live in 
her home. After they left, Jensen went to the front door and saw the 
officials had placed a large, yellow official notice there stating 
she had 48 hours to schedule an electrical safety inspection or the 
family's power would be cut off.

"I flipped when I saw that on my door," Jensen said.

The Jensens called and arranged for the inspection, which took place 
two days later. Having police cars parked outside their home was "a 
total embarrassment," Fay Jensen said. "People see a cop at your 
house and they say, 'What's happening?'"

Two RCMP officers accompanying a fire inspector and electrical safety 
inspector told the Jensens they would open every door and look in 
every closet throughout the home, before the inspection was done.

"I thought, 'What is going on?'" Fay Jensen said. "Is this Moscow or 
what? They don't have to have a search warrant to go through your 
house. This is a police state."

"They were pretty aggressive when they came," said Lee Jensen, who 
admits he was aggressive back. "I was pretty ugly to them. This is 
brown-shirt Germany shit. We're supposed to be living in a free country here."

When an RCMP officer approached a bedroom where the Jensens' two 
teenaged sons were still sleeping, Fay Jensen got worried.

"He's got his hand on his gun," she said. "This is bloody scary."

Darrell Evans, executive director of the Freedom of Information and 
Privacy Association, agrees warrantless searches by police are scary.

"What if one of the kids ran from the room and was carrying a toy 
shotgun?" he wonders. "This is like the tactics of a police state. I 
find it completely unacceptable. This is an invasion of privacy."

Marijuana grow ops are often booby-trapped and the growers are 
sometimes armed, which is why police are needed to do a sweep first.

"The officer, having their hand on their gun, I guess it's upsetting 
for people to see, but those are the tools we have on our belt," said 
Cpl. Nycki Basra of the Richmond RCMP.

"We've received no complaint about this," Basra added. "If she's got 
a complaint, she should call us."

The inspection team found neither marijuana nor any problems with the 
home's electrical system. What they did find was an outdoor pool, an 
air conditioning system, two teenagers and a family that has been the 
target of thieves often enough that they now leave their lights on 
all the time.

The Jensens knew $200 per month was high for an electrical bill, but 
didn't think it would result in a search of their home by police.

Such searches only became possible in 2004, when the provincial 
government introduced the Safety Standards Act. Prior to that, 
privacy legislation prevented utility companies like B.C. Hydro from 
releasing information about customers' consumption habits to 
municipalities or police.

The City of Richmond is one of several municipalities with an 
electrical safety inspection bylaw, which is aimed at shutting down 
marijuana grow operations.

Grow-ops consume large amounts of electricity and the growers often 
rewire the electrical systems, which can pose a fire hazard.

Of the 106 inspections conducted in Richmond since August 2007, the 
city found 60 grow-ops, Brodie said.

Brodie pointed out that the inspections are voluntary. However, 
citizens who refuse to allow inspections may find their power cut off.

That was the case in Surrey. In June 2007, a judge ordered the power 
reconnected to a Surrey home after it was disconnected.

The power was cut off when Jason Arkinstall refused to allow police 
into his house for an electrical safety inspection.

Like the Jensens, Arkinstall has an outdoor pool, which may account 
for the highelectrical bill that triggered an inspection.

But he also has a record for drug trafficking, and his lawyer 
suggested that the electrical safety inspection "is not only being 
done at the behest of the police but solely for their purposes."

When inspectors showed up, Arkinstall agreed to let inspectors into 
his home, but not police. His power was cut off.

In June 2007, a judge ordered the power reconnected, and the search 
is now the subject of a constitutional challenge. The B.C. Civil 
Liberties Association has applied for intervener status in the case. 
"We have deep concerns that this is being used as a means for 
warrantless searches," said Micheal Vonn, policy director for the 
B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Her organization fears police may be using "alleged safety concerns" 
to conduct searches without getting a search warrant, which Vonn said 
is "obviously problematic from a constitutional perspective." While 
he supports Richmond's electrical inspection program, Brodie said he 
will ask for a review of the recent Jensen home inspection.

"I'm going to speak to staff and ask for more information as to this 
particular inspection and inspections in general, how they're being 
handled," Brodie said.

"From what I've seen to this point, we're trying to protect the 
safety of the people, we're trying to protect the safety of property. 
We're trying to reduce the number of grow-ops in our community. "I 
think this has been a way to protect our citizens and their property. 
That doesn't mean it doesn't need to be fine-tuned."

Lee Jensen said he isn't sure he wants to go to court over the recent 
search of his house. But he wants ordinary citizens who think they 
are protected from illegal searches that that may not always be the case.

He said citizens who do not speak up against authoritarianism should 
not be surprised to wake up one day and find they have no freedoms left.

"Do you want to wake up one morning and find out it's all gone?" he 
said. "I don't want to lose every freedom."

If there is one consolation for the Jensens, it is a letter they 
received from the city last week informing them that they would not 
have to pay the $3,500 fee often levied to cover the cost of an inspection. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake