WARRANTLESS SEARCH RAISES QUESTIONS

City Bylaw Allows RCMP, Fire to Inspect Home If Hydro Use Deemed High

If the Jensen family is guilty of anything, it's that they are
ordinary, say Fay and Lee Jensen.

They run a business in Vancouver, pay their taxes and volunteer their time.

They admit they use a lot of electricity but didn't think that might
be a crime, until last week, when the RCMP showed up at their home on
Goldstream Drive.

"It was such a bizarre experience," Fay Jensen said of an inspection
involving the RCMP, Richmond Fire-Rescue and City of Richmond.

The inspections are part of a crackdown on marijuana grow operations
and are permitted under a bylaw that the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association suspects may be unconstitutional.

Jensen was at home having a shower on Jan. 28 when she heard her dogs
whining. When she looked out the window, she saw two uniformed
officials, including a fire inspector, looking around her house
outside. She poked her head out a window and asked the fire inspector
if there was a problem.

"He said, 'Yeah, you're consuming too much hydro.' It totally took me
off guard," Jensen recalls.

The inspector started asking questions, like how many people live in
her home. After they left, Jensen went to the front door and saw the
officials had placed a large, yellow official notice there stating
she had 48 hours to schedule an electrical safety inspection or the
family's power would be cut off.

"I flipped when I saw that on my door," Jensen said.

The Jensens called and arranged for the inspection, which took place
two days later. Having police cars parked outside their home was "a
total embarrassment," Fay Jensen said. "People see a cop at your
house and they say, 'What's happening?'"

Two RCMP officers accompanying a fire inspector and electrical safety
inspector told the Jensens they would open every door and look in
every closet throughout the home, before the inspection was done.

"I thought, 'What is going on?'" Fay Jensen said. "Is this Moscow or
what? They don't have to have a search warrant to go through your
house. This is a police state."

"They were pretty aggressive when they came," said Lee Jensen, who
admits he was aggressive back. "I was pretty ugly to them. This is
brown-shirt Germany shit. We're supposed to be living in a free country here."

When an RCMP officer approached a bedroom where the Jensens' two
teenaged sons were still sleeping, Fay Jensen got worried.

"He's got his hand on his gun," she said. "This is bloody scary."

Darrell Evans, executive director of the Freedom of Information and
Privacy Association, agrees warrantless searches by police are scary.

"What if one of the kids ran from the room and was carrying a toy
shotgun?" he wonders. "This is like the tactics of a police state. I
find it completely unacceptable. This is an invasion of privacy."

Marijuana grow ops are often booby-trapped and the growers are
sometimes armed, which is why police are needed to do a sweep first.

"The officer, having their hand on their gun, I guess it's upsetting
for people to see, but those are the tools we have on our belt," said
Cpl. Nycki Basra of the Richmond RCMP.

"We've received no complaint about this," Basra added. "If she's got
a complaint, she should call us."

The inspection team found neither marijuana nor any problems with the
home's electrical system. What they did find was an outdoor pool, an
air conditioning system, two teenagers and a family that has been the
target of thieves often enough that they now leave their lights on
all the time.

The Jensens knew $200 per month was high for an electrical bill, but
didn't think it would result in a search of their home by police.

Such searches only became possible in 2004, when the provincial
government introduced the Safety Standards Act. Prior to that,
privacy legislation prevented utility companies like B.C. Hydro from
releasing information about customers' consumption habits to
municipalities or police.

The City of Richmond is one of several municipalities with an
electrical safety inspection bylaw, which is aimed at shutting down
marijuana grow operations.

Grow-ops consume large amounts of electricity and the growers often
rewire the electrical systems, which can pose a fire hazard.

Of the 106 inspections conducted in Richmond since August 2007, the
city found 60 grow-ops, Brodie said.

Brodie pointed out that the inspections are voluntary. However,
citizens who refuse to allow inspections may find their power cut off.

That was the case in Surrey. In June 2007, a judge ordered the power
reconnected to a Surrey home after it was disconnected.

The power was cut off when Jason Arkinstall refused to allow police
into his house for an electrical safety inspection.

Like the Jensens, Arkinstall has an outdoor pool, which may account
for the highelectrical bill that triggered an inspection.

But he also has a record for drug trafficking, and his lawyer
suggested that the electrical safety inspection "is not only being
done at the behest of the police but solely for their purposes."

When inspectors showed up, Arkinstall agreed to let inspectors into
his home, but not police. His power was cut off.

In June 2007, a judge ordered the power reconnected, and the search
is now the subject of a constitutional challenge. The B.C. Civil
Liberties Association has applied for intervener status in the case.
"We have deep concerns that this is being used as a means for
warrantless searches," said Micheal Vonn, policy director for the
B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Her organization fears police may be using "alleged safety concerns"
to conduct searches without getting a search warrant, which Vonn said
is "obviously problematic from a constitutional perspective." While
he supports Richmond's electrical inspection program, Brodie said he
will ask for a review of the recent Jensen home inspection.

"I'm going to speak to staff and ask for more information as to this
particular inspection and inspections in general, how they're being
handled," Brodie said.

"From what I've seen to this point, we're trying to protect the
safety of the people, we're trying to protect the safety of property.
We're trying to reduce the number of grow-ops in our community. "I
think this has been a way to protect our citizens and their property.
That doesn't mean it doesn't need to be fine-tuned."

Lee Jensen said he isn't sure he wants to go to court over the recent
search of his house. But he wants ordinary citizens who think they
are protected from illegal searches that that may not always be the case.

He said citizens who do not speak up against authoritarianism should
not be surprised to wake up one day and find they have no freedoms left.

"Do you want to wake up one morning and find out it's all gone?" he
said. "I don't want to lose every freedom."

If there is one consolation for the Jensens, it is a letter they
received from the city last week informing them that they would not
have to pay the $3,500 fee often levied to cover the cost of an inspection.