Pubdate: Fri, 14 Oct 2005
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Robert Freeman

GROW WATCH CALLED A 'SPY NETWORK' BY CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUP

Block Watch has no business busting illegal marijuana grow operations
under the recently-announced Grow Watch program, says a Block Watch
volunteer in Chilliwack.

"We're taking away a responsibility of the RCMP and handing it over to
community members," says Rose Smith, and that move "could put citizens
in harm's way" if criminal elements in a neighbourhood believe the
volunteers are acting as "spies" for the police.

"It's a spy network," agrees B.C. Civil Liberties policy director
Micheal Vonn. "(Chilliwack officials) are trying to set up what looks
like a surveillance society, which works best when citizens spy on
each other."

She says there is a "qualitative" difference between citizens
reporting suspicious activity to police and "setting up a systemic spy
system" in a community.

The Grow Watch training manual advises members to look for, among
other things, property owners with "unkempt" lawns" and "very little
furniture," she says.

"There's no way you could read that and not find it troubling, if you
have concern for civil liberties," she says.

"This kind of community policing would have found a home in Soviet
Russia, (and) I'm not indulging in hyperbole," Vonn adds. "However we
want to couch this, it is requiring you to spy on your neighbours, if
you want to participate in this program."

But Chilliwack Councillor Sharon Gaetz, chair of the city's public
safety advisory council, says the qualitative difference from the
city's point of view is that nobody is forced to join Grow Watch.

And she charged the civil liberties critics of the program with making
an issue out of a genuine public concern for neighbourhood safety.

"It's not a program that's imposed on anybody," she says. "I don't
think the intention is for anyone to spy on their neighbours, the
intention is to keep grow-ops out of their neighbourhoods."

She says the volunteers are trained not to "personally intervene" in
suspected marijuana grow operations, but to call the police "just like
any other law-abiding citizen would."

"I think they just want their neighbourhoods to be safe," she added.
"If some people want to call that spying ... I think they're making an
issue out of it."

Smith says she was recently confronted by some neighbours while
walking her dog near her downtown Chilliwack home.

"They wanted to make sure I wasn't one of the spies involved (in Grow
Watch)," she says about the encounter. While she didn't feel
personally threatened, she thought the question was "fair enough ...
because people don't want to be spied on."

Smith says Grow Watch volunteers are "basically doing the work of an
undercover officer" and she questions whether Block Watch can legally
operate the program.

"(Block Watch) wasn't set up to do watching and reporting and
recording" of possible marijuana grow operations for the RCMP, she
says.

But Gerrie Wise, president of the provincial Block Watch program, says
each chapter of the organization has the "flexibility" to decide
whether to form partnerships with police "to fit the requirements of
the community."

"We teach neighbours to go home and teach their neighbours how to
better secure their property," she says. "Getting rid of grow-ops has
been part of their Block Watch job."

Chilliwack RCMP and Block Watch officials jointly unveiled the Grow
Watch program here in June geared to educating the public about how to
identify a grow-op, assisting citizens in reporting suspicious
activity, and deterring criminals with special Grow Watch signs.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin