GROW-OPS WILT UNDER SURREY PROGRAM

Marijuana grow-ops are down 81 per cent in Surrey -- and the city
wants other communities to follow suit.

Surrey Mayor Diane Watts said the decrease was a result of the
Electrical Fire Safety Inspection program launched in 2005.

The program was created after provincial legislation changes in 2004
allowed municipalities to request customers' residential records from
B.C. Hydro. The city has since completed 1,370 inspections, finding
grow-ops in 76 per cent of the properties.

Now Watts wants other cities to jump on board.

Two guidebooks offering anecdotal advice and research about grow-ops
will be released at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention Monday.

The guidebooks were co-authored by University of the Fraser Valley
criminologist Darryl Plecas, fire chief Len Garis, Dr. Irwin Cohen
and Amanda McCormick.

"The books lay out what we have learned in dealing with this problem
over the last five years," Watts said in a release. "I believe that
all communities must work together and share best practices."

Plecas said Surrey's success may mean grow-ops have simply moved to
other municipalities.

"These guidebooks were developed in part because we wished we had had
something like this when we first started," Garis added. "Now other
communities can quickly assess what it will take to put into place
the necessary teams and processes."

Surrey's crackdown included creating bylaws placing responsibility
for grow-ops on landlords, property owners and businesses.