THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

'We're Dependent On The People Keeping An Eye Out,' Police Say

They chose newish two-storey homes with double garages, manicured lawns and
basketball hoops. Far from the stereotypical vision of the seedy, downtown
neighbourhood, members of the drug-running ring rounded up in a series of
early morning raids yesterday lived quietly in middle-class comfort, beside
neighbours who were polite, but not overly intrusive.

According to police, it was the benign nature of the surroundings that made
these homes and neighbourhoods attractive staging grounds for illegal activity.

"There's generally less of a police presence so less chance of being
detected," said Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault, who heads the Ottawa police drug
unit. "They're trying to fit in."

One woman who lived near an alleged drug operation on Iris Street noticed
only that the house beside hers had lovely yard work. "They were beautiful
gardeners," she said, adding she had thought of hiring her soft-spoken
neighbours to work on her own lawn.

The only time the woman had words with her neighbours at 2694 Iris St. was
when they cut down a tiny slice of the tree that stands between the two
houses. "Then I went over and yelled at them," she said.

Another minor irritant revolved around the unusually large number of cars
parked at the house -- usually about nine. "They end up parking on my
lawn," she added, refusing to give her name for fear of retribution. She
said she's afraid her neighbours will come back and harm her dog.

That, say police, should be the least of her fears.

Doubters may scoff that this is "just marijuana." But grow operations are
nasty, smelly operations that fill roofs and ceilings with mould, and can
ruin electrical wiring.

Homeowners whose tenants convert a property into a growing operation may
wind up paying hundreds of thousands in damage that isn't covered by home
insurance.

Raids in other parts of the country have revealed as many as 13 homes in a
single neighbourhood that were used to grow marijuana. Although tSgt.
Pinault has seen no empirical evidence, he admitted it could deflate
property values.

Worse, both grow operations and the people who run them may introduce
violence onto streets that were previously serene, according to the officer.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that a culture of violence is taking
root in areas where growing operations have flourished, such as on the west
coast of British Columbia, he said.

It's the kind of unwelcome activity police fear could be coming to Ottawa
neighbourhoods, soon.

"We've been vocal about how it's increasing and moving into the cities.
Now, we're seeing this very clearly as a trend and we're trying to put a
dent in it before it becomes entrenched here," said the sergeant.

The signs aren't always easy to spot.

It's usually a combination of little things that should add up to a strong
hunch one's neighbours are running drugs.

Once a suitably innocuous home has been chosen, its criminal tenants
usually move in fast. They aren't the most talkative lot, preferring
instead to quietly go about their business. The house may appear to be
occupied only sporadically, and the lights inside could switch off and on
at regular intervals, as if on a timer.

But from the house itself can come the rattle and hum of a motor that
powers the operation's complicated hydroponic greenhouse system, often
located in the basement.

The basement windows may, in turn, be taped or boarded up to prevent strong
greenhouse lights from being seen at odd hours, and the home may be
refitted with outside lights or alarms for extra security. In winter,
neighbours may notice the home turning a brownish-yellow as hot, moist air
laden with bacteria escapes through vents in the roof and slithers down the
siding.

"What you would see is staining up in the eavestroughs, or you may actually
smell the marijuana," said Sgt. Pinault.

Then again, you may not notice a thing.

At 85 Pinetrail Cres., neighbours rarely saw the family that was supposed
to live there, and were beginning to doubt they had neighbours at all.
"This is a typical street with kids playing street hockey and people
walking their dogs," said Cornelius Verver, standing outside 87 Pinetrail
Cres. "You hear about this happening somewhere else, never in your own
neighbourhood."

Mr. Verver, an engineer, has lived on the street for 12 years. He was the
only neighbour who dared give his name. "It's like a wolf in sheep's
clothing," he said of a vase filled with flowers visible in his neighbours'
window, and the flower box outside.

Just a block away, more stunned inhabitants of the tree-lined street
clustered outside one of the raided homes. "This is normally such a quiet
street," said a resident who lives a few houses from 2 Wildbriar Way. "They
just seemed like quiet people."

But the endless comings and goings, coupled with the "fancy cars and boat"
on display in the driveway, raised the suspicion of some. "It was never
obvious who lived there," said one, "and with most homes it's obvious that
a family lives there. Neighbours suspected they were into drugs."

The only clue one woman had of anything peculiar taking place over at 1770
Prince of Wales Dr. was that washing machines always seemed to be on inside
the home. But this didn't seem unusual, she said, since the family there
was so large: about 10 people lived there, though it was difficult to keep
track of the three generations because different cars were always parked
out front.

She wondered if the family owned a dry cleaning business since the scent of
fabric softener wafted through the windows.

Her neighbours seemed friendly -- they'd even given her a gift at Christmas
- -- but she didn't know much about them, except that they liked to throw big
parties and barbecues.

Once taken over by drug dealers, a home may be converted into a "brokerage
house" -- where dealers bring cash in exchange for drugs -- a "staging
house," constituting the operational nerve centre, or a greenhouse.

"There are no real rules," said Sgt. Pinault. The moral is that neighbours
should strive to be ... nosier. "We're dependent on the people in these
neighbourhoods keeping an eye out and feeding us information. Once you know
what to look for, I tell you, you can spot these operations a mile away."