THERE ARE SO MANY GROW OPS HERE THAT...

Retired Mounties are helping Coquitlam RCMP's Marijuana Enforcement Team
(MET) take down pot farms.

The group of retired officers was brought in on a regular basis last month
to assist MET tackle the large number of grow operations in Coquitlam and
Port Coquitlam.

Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said the group isn't involved in the
investigational work of locating grow ops, obtaining warrants or making
arrests; rather, the retired cops are called to the scene once the site has
been secured to remove plants and to cart exhibits to the RCMP detachment.

"They have the expertise to do this and they know how to safely dismantle a
grow op," she said, adding, "Not everyone can do that type of work.

The aim of the recruitment is to give MET more time to deal with paperwork
for the courts and to bust more grows in the two cities (the average time
to remove pot plants and to clean up after a grow op is about four hours
for four officers).

Baptista couldn't say how many pot farms are in Coquitlam and PoCo but,
according to an academic paper released earlier this year, Coquitlam was
listed as one of the cities in B.C. with the largest increase in marijuana
cultivation in seven years. The report, published by the University College
of the Fraser Valley, indicated Coquitlam had a 624% hike in police files
opened between 1997 and 2003 for grow ops (the biggest increase in B.C. was
in Prince George, the report states).

Since MET was formed last September by then-superintendent Ric Hall, the
six-member team averaged one grow op bust each week Baptista was unable to
say if MET's work has made a dent in pot production in the city "but we're
certainly getting more and more information from the community as they
become more aware about the dangers of grows," she said. "We have the team
in place to do the work. It's just a matter of finding enough time to get
at it.

Meanwhile, the group of retired cops helped to seize plants from three grow
ops uncovered by MET Monday, two of them on Westwood Plateau.

The first bust happened in a home in the 2600-block of Uplands Court at
10:30 a.m. when police found 379 pot plants in a flowering state in four
grow rooms. A 37-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man, both Vancouver
residents, were arrested for theft of hydro, production of an illegal
substance and mischief.

The second grow op was located at 5 p.m. in a house in the 1100-block of
Madore Avenue, in Maillardville, where 588 pot plants in a flowering state
were removed as well as a hockey bag containing 22 freezer bags of pot,
weighing half a pound each. A 21-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, both
from Coquitlam, were arrested.

And at 8:50 p.m., MET discovered 640 pot plants in five grow rooms in a
home in the 2900-block of Cliffrose Crescent. A 47-year-old man of no fixed
address was arrested.

"Had it not been for the group of retired officers removing the plants, the
MET team would not have been able to do three homes in one day," said
Coquitlam RCMP Const. Dave Babineau.