Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2005
Source: Tri-City News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005, Tri-City News
Contact:  http://www.tricitynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1239
Author: Janis Cleugh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

THERE ARE SO MANY GROW OPS HERE THAT...

Retired Mounties are helping Coquitlam RCMP's Marijuana Enforcement Team 
(MET) take down pot farms.

The group of retired officers was brought in on a regular basis last month 
to assist MET tackle the large number of grow operations in Coquitlam and 
Port Coquitlam.

Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said the group isn't involved in the 
investigational work of locating grow ops, obtaining warrants or making 
arrests; rather, the retired cops are called to the scene once the site has 
been secured to remove plants and to cart exhibits to the RCMP detachment.

"They have the expertise to do this and they know how to safely dismantle a 
grow op," she said, adding, "Not everyone can do that type of work.

The aim of the recruitment is to give MET more time to deal with paperwork 
for the courts and to bust more grows in the two cities (the average time 
to remove pot plants and to clean up after a grow op is about four hours 
for four officers).

Baptista couldn't say how many pot farms are in Coquitlam and PoCo but, 
according to an academic paper released earlier this year, Coquitlam was 
listed as one of the cities in B.C. with the largest increase in marijuana 
cultivation in seven years. The report, published by the University College 
of the Fraser Valley, indicated Coquitlam had a 624% hike in police files 
opened between 1997 and 2003 for grow ops (the biggest increase in B.C. was 
in Prince George, the report states).

Since MET was formed last September by then-superintendent Ric Hall, the 
six-member team averaged one grow op bust each week Baptista was unable to 
say if MET's work has made a dent in pot production in the city "but we're 
certainly getting more and more information from the community as they 
become more aware about the dangers of grows," she said. "We have the team 
in place to do the work. It's just a matter of finding enough time to get 
at it.

Meanwhile, the group of retired cops helped to seize plants from three grow 
ops uncovered by MET Monday, two of them on Westwood Plateau.

The first bust happened in a home in the 2600-block of Uplands Court at 
10:30 a.m. when police found 379 pot plants in a flowering state in four 
grow rooms. A 37-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man, both Vancouver 
residents, were arrested for theft of hydro, production of an illegal 
substance and mischief.

The second grow op was located at 5 p.m. in a house in the 1100-block of 
Madore Avenue, in Maillardville, where 588 pot plants in a flowering state 
were removed as well as a hockey bag containing 22 freezer bags of pot, 
weighing half a pound each. A 21-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, both 
from Coquitlam, were arrested.

And at 8:50 p.m., MET discovered 640 pot plants in five grow rooms in a 
home in the 2900-block of Cliffrose Crescent. A 47-year-old man of no fixed 
address was arrested.

"Had it not been for the group of retired officers removing the plants, the 
MET team would not have been able to do three homes in one day," said 
Coquitlam RCMP Const. Dave Babineau.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom