POLICE BANNED FROM HOME POWER INSPECTIONS

A landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision has upheld Surrey's initiative
to clamp down on homes suspected of containing marijuana grow operations.

However, police are no longer allowed to attend the home
inspections.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis launched the initiative in March 2005
after a successful pilot project in this city. Homeowners with high
power consumption are notified they will be subject to an inspection.
If the homeowner refuses, or a grow operation is found, the home's
electricity is shut off. In May 2007, the inspection team attended the
home of South Surrey residents Jason Arkinstall and Jennifer Green,
who said city staff could enter, but police could not. The team left
without inspection, and shut off power to the home. Arkinstall took
the city to court over it, raising questions about the
constitutionality of the inspection program.

In a judgment released Friday, Justice William Smart ruled the Safety
Standards Amendment Act, which allows electrical inspection teams to
enter residences suspected of containing grow operations, does not
violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

However, bringing police along for the inspection breaches Section 8
of the Charter, which protects the public against unreasonable search,
Smart found. "A police search of a private residence, even when
conducted in aid of an electrical safety inspection, is intrusive,"
Smart wrote in his ruling.

"The search and police presence during the safety inspection add a
significant stigma to the inspection, imbuing it with an aura of
criminality absent from a typical electrical safety inspection. These
factors must be considered together with the very high expectation of
privacy that attaches to a private residence."

He also noted that the disconnection of power to the Arkinstall
residence was a further breach of their rights.

Garis said Monday he's extremely pleased with the ruling.

"It's an absolute win," Garis said. "What was preserved first and
foremost is the legislation."

The Supreme Court ruling validates the working relationship between
the provincial and municipal governments to shut down grow operations
using the new method, Garis said. The fact police officers won't be
able to come to the door is an easy workaround, he said.

"It doesn't preclude them from being on the street," Garis said. "It
doesn't preclude us from using security, we still haven't wrestled
that one to the ground yet. Either way we can make work."