SOLICITOR-GENERAL URGES PROSECUTORS TO APPEAL POT-GROWER CASE DECISION

Police Say They Won't Change Tactics Despite Judge's Ruling That They
Entered Home Too Fast

Solicitor-General John Les says police entering suspected drug houses
cannot wait around at the front door "while the bad guys are locking
and loading."

Les urged federal prosecutors to appeal a controversial B.C. Supreme
Court ruling this week in which a pot grower with 704 plants was
acquitted because the judge said the forced entry by police was too
extreme and unconstitutional.

Surrey RCMP knocked on the door of Van Dung Cao in March 2004 with a
search warrant in hand and then used a battering ram on a second door
two minutes later, entering with their guns drawn.

Justice Catherine Bruce said the police didn't wait long enough and
violated Cao's Charter right to a proper warning.

But Les said Thursday he thinks the ruling is out of touch with the
critical problem of organized crime and the drug trade.

"If two minutes isn't long enough, what is?" he asked. "These are
typically dangerous situations. There have been too many of these
grow-ops found with guns and ammunition in them, with booby traps in
them. And the police know this and that is why they react the way that they do.

"What are they supposed to do? Continue waiting politely while the
bad guys are locking and loading? I think it needs to be appealed,"
Les said. "I think what federal Crown counsel in this case have to
notice is the public outrage and on the basis of that maybe come to
the conclusion that if nothing else, this needs to be reviewed by appeal."

He said Bruce's ruling, released Wednesday, is a setback in tackling
the illegal marijuana industry.

"It is particularly disheartening to me, in that we have been making
some pretty good headway in terms of going after grow-ops --
particularly in Surrey where they estimate the number of grow-ops is
down by 40 per cent in the last year," Les said.

"We constantly have this notion of wanting to tie police hands behind
their backs as they try to keep our communities safe."

Repeated calls to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to ask
whether an appeal is being considered were not returned Thursday, for
a second day.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal, a former judge, said he understands why
Bruce ruled the way that she did. "It is not our issue. It is a
federal issue," Oppal said.

"But before we start running off and blaming this judge, one should
look at what the law is. The judge was following the law."

Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said the drug team does not intend to
change its practices despite the ruling. He said the reaction to the
decision has been very much in favour of police.

He said it is almost as if the "justice system" should now be called
the "legal system" because of all the Charter arguments now being
made by accused.

Sgt. Neil Munro, head of the Vancouver Police "growbuster" team, said
the ruling won't change police practices. The eight-person unit
executes almost 100 search warrants a year on suspected growing operations.

"If you think how long two minutes is, you can walk from just about
any place in your house to the front door in two minutes unless
you've got one heck of a big house," Munro said. "A mailman with a
special delivery or a delivery man -- how long would they wait?

"I don't think very many of them would be waiting there for two or
three minutes."

If police wait too long, Munro said the suspect could hide or prepare
a violent response to police.

Murray Mollard, of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said that
despite the controversy surrounding the ruling, the judge carefully
considered the public's safety.

But New Democrat public safety critic Mike Farnworth said the ruling
put a marijuana trafficker's rights ahead of the community's
well-being and must be appealed.

"Marijuana grow-ops are an epidemic and pose a serious threat to
public safety, our communities and our youth," he said.

"This B.C. Supreme Court ruling appears to favour the rights of a
person running a major grow-op at the expense of all other crucial
considerations," Farnworth said.