NIAGARA GROW-OP STRATEGY PRAISED BY PROVINCE

As NRP Busts Marijuana Operation In Falls, Ontario Announces $6.3M
Boost For Guns And Gangs Strategy

As police and politicians unveiled a protocol to rid Niagara Falls of
marijuana grow operations, hundreds of pot plants were being removed
from a north-end home.

At a press conference outside the Niagara Falls police station,
Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor announced the Liberal government was
expanding its "guns, gangs and grow-ops project" to combat violence
and build safer communities.

Across town, residents on Claude Avenue looked on as Niagara Regional
Police dressed in hazmat clothing harvested marijuana plants from a
two-storey home.

Police say the operation once held 400 plants in various stages of
growth. At the time of the raid, only 200 plants, with a street value
of $200,000, remained.

Wednesday's bust brings the NRP's year-to-date total for marijuana
seizures to more than $3 million in plants and growing equipment.

More than $8 million in marijuana was seized across Niagara in 2006.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a $6.3-million investment to
bolster the existing anti-guns and gangs strategy Wednesday.

The funds will be used to develop a provincial advisory group on
marijuana grow operations that will work with local communities to
counter the threat to the public and emergency responders.

The provincial protocol will be modelled after the inter-agency
partnership between the NRP, the Niagara Falls Fire Department, the
Region and the City of Niagara Falls.

"They have established a very effective system to shut down illegal
grow operations, protect personnel, eliminate potential fire hazards
and safety risks and protect the consumer from buying buildings still
contaminated with mould," Craitor said.

In Niagara, landowners are required to remediate properties that
housed grow-ops within 30 days or run the risk of having the structure
torn down.

Until the building is cleaned up, the property has a notice registered
on the title, which alerts would-be buyers the home was a grow-op and,
as such, poses serious health risks to occupants.

The province has now accepted Niagara's protocol as standard and will
soon put in place a team of experts to help other municipalities
develop their own anti-pot programs.

"We are leading the way here in Niagara Falls in relation to
eliminating grow-ops," said Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci.

Police Chief Wendy Southall was pleased with the government's
commitment to help police services fight the ongoing problems related
to the drug subculture.

"We certainly have our incidences relating to homicides and gangs and
we have gang members taking up residence within our region. We also
face issues with respect to a lot of guns coming to our jurisdiction
from across the border."

Niagara Falls fire Chief Lee Smith said firefighters not only have to
contend with grow-ops, but with guns and gangs as well.

"Many of the grow-ops we attend are run by criminal elements such as
gangs. Quite frequently, guns are found as well," he said.

The funding announcement includes an investment in the Safer
Communities-1,000 Officer Partnership program to help municipalities
hire 1,000 new police officers across the province.

The program, announced last year, lead to 30 new officers with the
NRP.

How Niagara will benefit from the latest funding announcement is
expected to be announced at a later date, Southall said.