LEGAL WRANGLES PUT PSIT IN LIMBO

It won't be until 2009 that a decision is made on the special teams.

Township lawyers are still trying to decide whether the Public Safety
Inspection Teams will start operations again in the new year.

"We don't have a full report yet from our legal counsel," said
Township fire chief Doug Wade.

A decision is expected in the first quarter of 2009, Wade said.

The teams, also known as PSIT, include Township bylaw officers and
RCMP officers.

They were created to use safety inspections to target homes suspected
of harbouring marijuana grow operations.

Bylaw officers have the right to enter properties to check for safety
violations.

Data on power consumption from BC Hydro, along with visual
inspections, narrowed down homes thought to be hosting grow ops.

Owners were informed there would be an inspection.

In some cases, the team discovered homes where the owners were using
numerous power tools or running hot tubs, but in most cases they
found hastily dismantled grow ops.

However, legal questions raised in Surrey dog the project.

The PSIT has been inactive since the spring of this year.

First it was sidelined when a firefighter was charged with theft for
taking a flashlight and battery from one of the houses being checked.

Now the question is whether police can continue to accompany the teams.

A B.C. Supreme Court decision in late October ruled that the searches
were legal, but that RCMP officers could not accompany the other
inspectors. That ruling was in relation to a Surrey case.

Since then, Langley officials have been trying to determine whether
the ruling applies to Langley's slightly different version of the
inspection team.

In the year it operated, more than 220 grow ops were found. The
owners of the homes were then ordered to pay clean up costs and fix
unsafe wiring.

Fires are frequent at grow ops, which often see substandard wiring
and hot lights.