POT, POWER & POLICE ON THE PLATEAU

The officers are in position, one at the back of the home, three at
the front door and several others - in uniform and plain clothes -
watching nearby on the street.

"Police. Search warrant," one calls out, a warning that is sounded at
least five times before the door is forced open.

"Police. Search warrant," they continue to shout out as they enter the
home, a $600,000 property on Westwood Plateau that, like its
neighbour, and two others on the same street, are found to house a
commercial marijuana grow operation.

Commuters rubberneck as they pass the scene, a common one these days
on the Plateau since the Coquitlam RCMP Marijuana Enforcement Team was
formed in mid-September.

To date, the six Mounties dedicated to the task have dismantled at
least 30 pot farms, most of them in expensive houses.

When the Woodsia Place home has been checked and secured, police
invite reporters and photographers to see the grow-op, something they
have not done for years because of safety risks involved.

They do this for two reasons: First, to show the public the dangerous
work they are doing; second, to send a warning to growers they are not
welcome in the community.

"It's a result of these murders," said Cpl. Dan Pons, who heads up
MET, referring to two arrests made this week in connection with a
murder last year because of a grow "rip."

"If they're ready to kill somebody who does that, then they're ready
to put neighbours at risk," he said. "Look around. You have people
playing ball hockey in the middle of the street and they could be
targets because of this."

MET had been watching the Woodsia Place house for about two weeks
before obtaining a search warrant. Pons said they received a tip from
BC Hydro there was unusual activity at the home. "They're our best
customer," he said of hydro crews, who regularly pass on information
to RCMP.

Inside, it's what police describe as a typical, if smallish, pot farm.
Though no one lives at the house, it is furnished: a TV and sofa in
the living room; a dining room table with gladiolas in a vase; Chinese
statues and symbols throughout the home; a photo of an older woman on
the fireplace mantle. There are also clothes hung in closets, and
mattresses and suitcases thrown in bedrooms.

But the master bedroom on the second floor is a sea of marijuana
plants. Lights and thermometers hang from the ceiling and holes are
cut in the floor for wires and ventilation.

The smell is stronger in the basement, where fans spin in two rooms
with dirt on the floor, the pot plants primed for harvesting. Tubes
run into the sink, toilet and bathtub in the bathroom to discharge the
chemicals; in another smaller room is a clump of wires and power boxes
to bypass hydro.

"This is a business," Pons said. "It's not a residence."

It will take MET about six hours to dismantle the grow op (256 plants
are seized along with growing equipment). The city will be called, and
it will then bill the homeowner for the cost of clean-up. Since
September, the city of Coquitlam has charged out more than $82,000 to
owners of homes that have housed grow ops.

While the penalties may be minimal, Coquitlam RCMP is now using a new
strategy that it hopes will make the homeowners pay attention.

This week, after taking down a grow op in the 2900-block of Blackbear
Court and finding the owner "complicit" with the pot farm, it applied
for restraint and management orders from the Supreme Court of B.C.,
which registers the home with Land Titles as a former grow-op.

Under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the home is
seized under proceeds of crime legislation and a court-appointed
person is put in charge of the home until the order is lifted.

"It means the owner can't sell the property and has no credit for it,"
said Const. Jeff Levine, an MET member. "It is forfeited to the
government of Canada."

This year, the city of Surrey has seized 22 homes, Pons
said.

"This is the first time we have done something like this in
Coquitlam," he said, "and we plan on doing many more."