Pubdate: Wed, 07 Feb 2007
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Surrey Leader
Contact:  http://www.surreyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236
Author: Dan Ferguson

NEW GROW OP CAMPAIGN

A new Surrey campaign that used power consumption rates to uncover 
grow ops has located 30 so far.

Fire chief Len Garis said every last one of the suspected residences 
visited by a team of Surrey fire and municipal inspectors (with 
Surrey RCMP support) during the first weeks of the new campaign 
turned out to have evidence of grow op activity and often unsafe wiring.

"We found two outside electrical meters that were absolutely fried," 
Garis said Monday.

The first team started work in mid-January.

Garis said a second team of inspectors has been finishing its 
training and will begin work next week, boosting the number of 
inspections possible.

"We hope to average 100 a month."

The fire department believes there are at least 1,100 Surrey 
residences that could conceal grow ops because they have unusual or 
excessive consumption patterns.

Under the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative (EFSI), fire crews with 
municipal electrical inspectors issue inspection notices on homes 
suspected of having grow operations.

If the homeowner doesn't allow an inspection within 48 hours, the 
power is cut off.

A recently enacted law gives municipalities the power to demand 
electrical consumption records from "an electricity distributor" such 
as B.C. Hydro.

Homes with unusual electrical consumption records are given written 
notice that an inspection will be carried out and owners or renters 
are required by law to allow a safety inspection.

A pilot program in Surrey that ran between March and June of 2005, 
that used a small five-person team of two officers, two firefighters 
and an electrical inspector uncovered 119 grow ops in 90 days.

That worked out to 94 per cent of the 126 houses with unusual or 
excessive power consumption records looked at by the EFSI team. Each 
case was processed in about four hours.

According to RCMP estimates, there are 20,000 grow ops in B.C. which 
generate $7 billion in illegal revenues.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine