Pubdate: Fri, 05 May 2006
Source: Tri-City News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006, Tri-City News
Contact:  http://www.tricitynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1239
Author: Janis Warren
Note: with files from Kevin Diakiw of the Surrey Leader.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

NO WARRANTS, NO WAITING, MAYOR SAYS

Police and firefighters in Coquitlam could soon be shutting down marijuana 
grow operations without having to obtain a search warrant, Mayor Maxine 
Wilson said Wednesday.

Wilson, speaking at a meeting about grow ops hosted by Westwood Plateau 
Community Association, said the city is considering taking its lead from 
the cities of Surrey and Abbotsford to pass bylaws that would allow 
emergency personnel to post a notice on a home requesting an inspection to 
investigate high electricity consumption. If an inspection is denied within 
the allotted time period, police and fire officials would have the power to 
turn off hydro to the house, Wilson told the crowd.

"We are seriously looking at this now," she told the crowd at Summit middle 
school. "We are doing everything as a city to support our police and fire 
departments in battling grow operations."

This year, Coquitlam RCMP has received 216 complaints about grow ops, she said.

Patrick McPhillips, a Coquitlam Fire/Rescue assistant chief, said the fire 
department will be presenting the proposal to city council later this 
month. Details about how Coquitlam's initiative would work have yet to be 
ironed out.

"This is all about moving the grow operators out of the community," 
McPhillips said, noting cultivators wouldn't be charged but simply 
inconvenienced. "The fire department isn't into the enforcement part but 
the safety side."

City of Coquitlam spokesperson Therese Mickelson said the city is now able 
to look at the measures because of new provincial legislation that allows 
municipalities to have access to BC Hydro records on demand -- data that 
can then be turned over to police to determine if spikes in power use were 
caused by a grow op.

Pot growers require three to 10 times the electricity used by a normal home.

Surrey implemented its Electrical Fire Safety Initiative Team in March 2005 
and, since, its crews have investigated power usage at 271 homes; out of 
those, 243 turned out to be electrical hazards, many of them likely grow 
operations. The remaining 28 were either false leads or homes with 
secondary suites that had high power consumption, according to Surrey Fire 
Chief Len Garis.

Last month, Garis told Black Press the public's safety outweighs privacy 
rights.

But Michael Vonn, policy director for the BC Civil Liberties Association, 
said the program isn't well thought out. "We are concerned about the 
evasion of the search warrants, which provide a balance for legal 
standards," she said.

She also questioned whether the program may force grow operators to use 
alternate power sources, such as propane, to fuel their marijuana harvests.

Still, Coquitlam RCMP welcomes the plan. "We're definitely in favour of 
anything that helps us take down these illegal operations," Const. Dave 
Babineau said.

Delta, Richmond and Nanaimo are considering adopting similar anti-grow bylaws.

- -- with files from Kevin Diakiw of the Surrey Leader. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D