Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 Source: Richmond Review, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Richmond Public Library Contact: http://www.richmondreview.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/704 Author: Martin van den Hemel IS RICHMOND LOSING THE B.C. BUD BATTLE? A co-ordinated Lower Mainland effort may help in the battle to stomp out marijuana grow operations, police told councillors during Tuesday's community safety committee meeting. Councillors asked RCMP brass about recent reports of increased violence involving marijuana grow ops and asked what further steps the city can take to aid in the battle to reduce the estimated 500 grow ops currently in operation in the city. RCMP Insp. Tony Mahon said police are appreciative of council's work to date in passing bylaws aimed specifically at homes that are repeatedly used for grow-ops. He said police are considering establishing a coordinated system at the inspector rank that would enable RCMP detachments throughout the Lower Mainland to more effectively work together. "Obviously, the problem is bigger than Richmond," RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said. By having a senior officer facilitate overall co-ordination in RCMP jurisdictions, this would enable the problem to be tackled from a more global perspective, he said. Aside from greater co-ordination and exchange of intelligence information, the potential would exist that manpower could be shared between areas, Thiessen added. Richmond currently has a dedicated five-member marijuana production unit, known as the Green Team, but they are finding themselves overwhelmed by the number of grow-ops in the city. Aside from the proliferation, however, is the troubling increase in violence, with some bandits brandishing sawed-off shotguns as they case local neighbourhoods looking for grow-ops to raid. Police estimate there may be as many as 20 groups routinely working in Richmond. Staff Sgt. Al Duplante, in charge of the plainclothes unit, told councillors Tuesday that officers are busting two to three grow operations per week. Each of the five members in the Green Team are handling 20 to 30 potential sites each. "It's staggering the scope of what we're dealing with." There have been numerous cases over the last few years in which these grow-rips have resulted in people either being shot, assaulted, injured, or even killed, as was the case with a grow-rip gone wrong last September. Richmond resident and retired RCMP officer David Patterson told councillors it's time for the city to take more action to stem the increasing violence in local neighbourhoods. He suggested steps that the city, police and the Crown should take to rid the city of "this terrible scourge and the word will spread throughout the region that Richmond is not the place to carry on this activity and think that you'll get away with it," Patterson told councillors. "So let us join together...and take back our streets." RCMP Supt. Ward Clapham suggested that houses up for sale be required to declare to prospective buyers if it had previously housed a grow-op. This would make a house more difficult to sell and would make it uncomfortable for homeowners willfully renting to marijuana growers. "Is there a mechanism in place through the legal system where we could go after repeat offenders?" Coun. Evelina Halsey-Brandt asked. "Are the courts supportive of the hard work of the police?" Thiessen told the committee that growers are not concerned about the legal ramifications of being busted, and consider that the cost of doing business. Coun. Rob Howard asked what can be done to "get out of this vicious little cycle", where growers simply go to court, get released and then are back growing again. "As a measured outcome, it's a failure," Howard said of police efforts to date. But Clapham said the Green Team isn't simply shutting down these grow ops and seizing the equipment and crop. Officers are looking for those higher up the chain, in an effort to arrest and charge those individuals. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom