DANGER LURKS AT GROW OPS, DESPITE BEST PREPARATION

Police officers head into potentially volatile situations armed with
guns, body armour and intensive training.

What they don't have is a crystal ball that can unfailingly predict
whether they'll make an uneventful arrest or become locked in a
life-or-death struggle with an armed suspect, say RCMP.

And as questions fly about the ill-fated police operation on a grow op
in northern Alberta this week, Mounties say that second-guessing is
inevitable.

"It's a lot of armchair quarterbacking, and that's a natural thing
when you have a tragedy. People will always ask was the right thing
done? Could have more been done?" said Cpl. Wayne Oakes of the RCMP.

The officers were guarding a Quonset hut Thursday after investigators
found a marijuana grow operation and stolen property inside the day
before.

"One of the unfortunate aspects of this is it's being blown up into a
huge operation, that this was some time of major crime scene with all
kinds of industrial espionage," Oakes said.

"This was a rural property in rural Alberta. The assessment has to
take place on what resources are put there to reasonably protect the
officers who are going there."

The property owner, James Roszko, wasn't seen during the original
raid, and a key question the investigation will try to answer is how
he came to be on the property and kill the officers with a
semi-automatic rifle.

"That, I'm sure, will be part of the review process, but obviously
somebody in the initial stages felt that appropriate measures were
taken," Oakes said.

Guy Fontaine, who represented Roszko for about 15 years, said he's
baffled that Mounties could not have been aware how dangerous the man
was.

"I cannot for a moment in my mind understand why the RCMP exposed
themselves," Fontaine told The Canadian Press. "They would have had a
full awareness of him. That will haunt the entire RCMP as to how four
of their personnel could have brought it on. They knew about his
weapons, too."

The officers guarding the Quonset hut were armed with RCMP-issue
semi-automatic pistols and were wearing light body armour.

"They were not going into a potential armed conflict. They were
guarding a scene," Oakes said.

The body armour issued to officers can protect them from
small-barreled handguns, some smaller-calibre rifles, or a blast from
a 12-gauge shotgun, Oakes said.

Heavier body armour could protect officers from a more powerful
weapon, but leave them vulnerable in other ways, he added.

"In order for our officers to have body armour to protect them against
the type of firearm that was involved there, we'd be totally
immobile," Oakes said.

The RCMP also has heavier firepower at its disposal, with each
detachment stocking rifles and shotguns for use in certain situations.

Police, for good reason, use those weapons judiciously, said
Oakes.

"Imagine what our streets would look like if our police officers
walked around the streets toting high-powered weapons. I think -- I
know for a fact -- there would be an outcry," he said.

Deciding on the proper amount of officers and firepower depends on a
number of factors: Do police databases have a record of violence for
the address or the people living there? Does a search of the firearms
registry turn up anything?

Such is the case with marijuana grow ops, which can be heavily
fortified or booby-trapped by criminals guarding their valuable crop
from police and other criminals.

"We look at the whole package and if we deem it necessary, we bring in
our emergency response team to control the entrance," said Staff Sgt.
Birnie Smith of the RCMP drug section in Calgary.

"We go into these things knowing something could go wrong. The vast
majority of times -- thank goodness -- nothing does, but you prepare
for it."

While police rely on observation, intelligence and experience, one
expert said not even the best preparation can predict human behaviour
and eliminate all the risks.

"That's why policing is such a dangerous job," said Doug King, chair
of the justice studies program at Mount Royal College in Calgary.