POLICE WATCHDOG TO REVIEW DRUG RAIDS

Probe Headed By Ex-Coroner Follows Vancouver Sun Reports

The Police Complaints Commissioner has launched a review of the Vancouver
police department's methods of fighting the marijuana trade after stories
in The Vancouver Sun raised questions about police tactics.

Larry Campbell, B.C.'s former chief coroner, has been hired to review
"police conduct, policies and procedures" and to provide a report of his
findings to Commissioner Don Morrison.

Commission spokesman William MacDonald said the review was sparked by
recent reports in The Sun about Grow Busters, a team of patrol officers set
up last year to crack down on marijuana-growing operations.

"The commissioner has been following the articles in the newspaper,"
MacDonald said. "He wishes to have all the facts before him before he
decides what other action is appropriate."

Last December The Sun reported that Grow Busters had not recommended
charges against a single suspect after raiding more than 100 growing
operations over the past year.

Police defended the policy by saying resources were better spent conducting
more raids and devoting less time to building criminal cases.

On Thursday and Friday, The Sun published excerpts from e-mails and memos
about Grow Busters contained in 267 pages of internal police documents
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents revealed several senior drug investigators strongly opposed
the no-charge policy.

In a memo to Chief Constable Terry Blythe last August, a senior member of
the drug squad wrote: "At the moment, the perception that the general
public has is that the police are doing a great job. [That] when the police
show up to get rid of the problem in their neighbourhood the person is
going to jail. ... I think they would be appalled to know different."

Grow Busters has since been amalgamated into the drug squad, but the
combined team still only recommends charges in about 17 per cent of its raids.

The documents obtained by The Sun also showed Vancouver police raided
growing operations without warrants and destroyed private property -- even
though senior officers were warned the actions might have been against the law.

In a memo sent last Sept. 6 to Inspector Wayne Melymick, head of special
investigations, a drug squad officer who was seconded to the Grow Busters
team said he witnessed property being routinely destroyed during raids.

The memo's author wrote that while he believes police have the authority to
seize marijuana and growing equipment as evidence, "I can find no
authorization for police members ... to destroy property, even if it is
property used to produce an illegal substance. ... In the long run this
practice will damage this department's credibility and could result in both
civil and possible criminal sanctions against our members if continued."

The documents also revealed that, for a brief period between November,
1999, and February, 2000, Vancouver police raided growing operations,
without first obtaining search warrants by going to the suspected
operations with members of the Vancouver fire department, who have the
legal authority to enter premises when they believe there is a fire hazard
inside.

"These are warrantless entries to dwelling houses being done primarily to
control criminal behaviour," one officer wrote in a memo. "It is the
opinion of all members of this unit [drug squad] that the courts would take
a very dim view of police actions should this project come to light."

Both the destruction of property and warrant-less searches have since been
halted, police said this week.

Campbell, who stepped down as B.C.'s chief coroner last year, said he had
not yet outlined exactly what he plans to look at during his review.

"I'll be talking to a number of people in the police force and with Crown
and just going over policy and exactly what's going on," he said.

Vancouver police said Friday they will cooperate with Campbell's review.

"We have no problem whatsoever with the commission being involved," said
police spokesman Detective Scott Driemel. "We've assured the commission our
full support and cooperation."

MacDonald said a decision has not yet been made about whether Campbell's
report will be released to the public.

Depending on what Campbell's report concludes, the commissioner has several
options. Under the Police Act, he has the authority to launch an
investigation into the conduct of any municipal police officer. He could
also hold public hearings into the issue or forward his findings to the
police board, the attorney-general or Crown counsel.

But Driemel said police are confident their actions have been appropriate.

"We're not worried," he said. "We are fully within the law to work the way
we are at present. A lot of these activities were very isolated."

But he added: "If the commissioner has recommendations, we'd gladly look at
those."