WADE WEIGHS OPTIONS

A recent B.C. Supreme Court decision allowing Surrey's Public Safety
Inspection Team to continue will affect decisions made in Langley,
said Township fire chief Doug Wade.

The court upheld Surrey fire department's initiative to clamp down on
homes suspected of containing marijuana grow operations.

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

"We aren't exactly sure what our plan B will be if RCMP can't
accompany the team," said Wade on Wednesday. "It poses some challenges."

The Township team has been disbanded since last spring, after one of
its members was accused and charged with stealing lights and
batteries from a home he had inspected.

Wade also chose to shut the team down because three Township
homeowners filed a suit against the Langley team on the basis that
the searches breached their constitutional rights.

That suit hasn't gone through the courts and it will likely take
months before it does, Wade believes.

The inspection team used to be made up of a fire inspector, bylaw
inspector, building inspector and RCMP members.

But what the team will look like down the road in Langley is still
unknown, he said.

"We are working with our legal experts to see what our options are to
re-establish the team. It could be up and running sometime in the new year."

The PSIT in Langley shut down more than 200 homes suspected of being
grow-ops in the less than a year it was up and running. The team is
able to go after a suspected grow-op a lot faster than police, who
most obtain search warrants.