RULING GIVES POLICE ROOM TO SEARCH FOR GUNS

Manitoba's highest court has ruled that when it comes to guns, the
need to protect public safety trumps an individual's right to privacy
when police go searching for weapons in homes.

The Court of Appeal decision gives the police more legal breathing
room to seek out guns in the absence of a search warrant when they
believe firearms might be present.

In a decision handed down this week, the Manitoba Court of Appeal
refused Ryan Tereck's bid to have key evidence used to convict him on
drug-production charges tossed. Police came across a marijuana grow
operation in his Dauphin home while conducting a search for a gun they
believed he was going to use to commit suicide.

Police forced their way into Tereck's home in April 2005 under the
authority of the Mental Health Act, which allows authorities to "take
reasonable measures" to intervene when they have grounds to believe a
person threatens their own life or the lives of others.

Tereck was arrested without incident and removed from the home while
two officers conducted a "sweep search" - or superficial search - of
the home looking for other people or weapons.

In doing so, they discovered evidence of the grow-op and withdrew from
the home to apply for a warrant to search further. Police later
returned to the house where they seized 300 marijuana plants and other
equipment.

Tereck was convicted and handed a 10-month conditional sentence, a
long-weapons prohibition and a small fine on Jun. 29, 2007.

Tereck appealed his conviction, asking that the drug evidence be
quashed by the appeal court, saying while police had the right to
enter his home and detain him under the powers of the Mental Health
Act, they had no right or reason to search his home.

At Tereck's trial, the presiding judge found police had acted
appropriately based on information they received that Tereck had
access to an automatic weapon - and that when it comes guns, the
public's collective safety trumps privacy.