POLICE DOGS HUNT DRUGS ON FERRIES

While B.C. Ferries passengers took in the scenery on the upper decks, West
Vancouver cops were sniffing around their cars below.

Police used drug-trained dogs to root out eight people with marijuana in
their vehicles.

But a civil liberties watchdog is crying foul, saying police have no
business snooping around on public ferries without a search warrant.

"Operation High Seas" netted seven kilograms of marijuana Tuesday and led
to three arrests.

Plainclothes officers sealed off car decks on four return trips from
Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.

West Vancouver police Sgt. Bob Fontaine said the dog, which came from
detachments around the Lower Mainland, detected the drugs from outside the
cars.

Police then waited for the owners to return to their cars before making an
arrest for possession of narcotics, searching the cars and seizing the drugs.

"Nobody even knew we were there," Fontaine said yesterday. "They're all
upstairs, and we're down on the car decks. "It was the most non-invasive
way of trying to detect any drugs on the ferry. I think you might see this
will happen again in the future."

Fontaine said criminals are using B.C. Ferries to transport drugs through
Horseshoe Bay.

He said there are numerous marijuana grow-ops on Vancouver Island, as well
as some "off-loading" of drugs from ships on the west coast of the island.

A 43-year-old man and 30-year-old woman from Lasqueti Island are now facing
drug trafficking charges, along with a 37-year-old man from Lantzville.

Police seized small amounts of marijuana from five other people, but didn't
charge them.

Fontaine said police were not acting on a specific tip, but "have had
information in the past that drugs have been transported on that ferry."

B.C. Ferries would not comment on why it is allowing police to search cars,
except to say it was being co-operative.

John Dixon, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said police
have invaded the privacy of passengers.

"They have no business trolling around prospectively on the ferries unless
they have good and reasonable, probable grounds that a specific criminal
offence is being committed.

"If you can't find anything else for police officers to do than ride around
on the ferries, on the hope of busting somebody for having some dope in
their car, then West Vancouver obviously needs fewer police officers," said
Dixon.

Marijuana is often considered B.C.'s biggest cash crop.

A study commissioned by the RCMP and released last month found the number
of B.C. grow-ops grew by 48 per cent per year from 1997 to 2000.

Solicitor-General Rich Coleman said at the time that police must have the
resources they need to bust grow-ops.

"I don't want the province to become a haven for this type of activity," he
said. "Frankly, I don't think we should be soft on drug."

Police have estimated there are as many as 15,000 grow-ops in the Lower
Mainland alone.

The summer edition of High Times magazine named Vancouver as the world's
best spot for marijuana smokers ahead of Amsterdam, where pot is legal.