RAIDS FIND KIDS INSIDE 1 IN 5 TIMES

One in five of the growing operations raided by Vancouver police have
children living inside, according to a new study.

"I didn't think it was going to be that high," said Darryl Plecas, a
criminologist at the University College of the Fraser Valley and lead
author of the study.

Police officers have been talking for several years about the increasing
number of children found in growing operations, but it has been difficult
to track how big the problem really is.

Vancouver police recently began using a computerized file system that
tracks whether child protection officers were called during an investigation.

Using that data, Plecas was able to determine that in 2003, children were
present in 21 per cent of all growing operations raided by police in Vancouver.

While similar statistics aren't available for other jurisdictions in B.C.,
Insp. Paul Nadeau of the RCMP's Coordinated Marijuana Enforcement Team said
the problem is just as serious in most cities with a lot of home-based
growing operations.

"I think it's one of the biggest issues that we encounter," he said. "Most
of us have kids [and] it bothers everybody. . . . If criminals want to get
into this, fine. But when you start dragging kids into it, they have no
business in that sort of situation."

Nadeau said police try to gather as much information about a suspected
growing operation before executing a search warrant so children are not
endangered during a raid.

Unfortunately, he said, there are plenty of other risks to children in a
growing operation.

"Obviously it's not a good environment to raise children in," he said.
"You' re exposing children to all sorts of situations -- from home
invasions to the obvious hazards . . . such as the hydro bypasses, the
chemicals [and] the mould."

In the past, operations were often tended by absentee growers who would
only show up at a property once or twice a week to check on their plants.

However, in recent years, organized crime groups -- in particular
Vietnamese gangs -- have begun recruiting families to live in the houses,
both to keep an eye on the plants and make the home appear like a normal
residence.

Nadeau said there is some hope that as growers move to larger, more rural
properties, police will begin seeing fewer children in growing operations.

Mark Sieben, acting assistant deputy minister with the B.C. Ministry of
Children and Family Development, said protection officers are often called
by police in the middle of the night to deal with children in grow operations.

"If there are children on the scene and parents are arrested and taken
away, there's an immediate care issue," he said.

Sieben said taking a child into state custody is a last resort and under
normal circumstances the ministry -- in discussion with the parents --
tries to place children with family members.

Sieben said most children found in growing operations are eventually
reunited with their parents.

But before they get their children back, he said, parents usually have to
prove that they are no longer living in an unsafe environment.