ANTI-POT TEAM WILL NEED WARRANTS: COURTS

A new ruling will require warrants before electrical inspectors can
search for pot.

To get the Public Safety Inspection Teams (PSIT) back up and running,
Langley Township will have to jump through a few extra hoops.

On Thursday, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that Surrey's similar
program violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The programs are based on sending municipal electrical inspectors and
bylaw officials into homes with suspiciously high power
consumption.

In many cases - well over 90 per cent in Langley's experience - such
homes were using the extra power to light and heat indoor marijuana
grow operations.

The judges ruled that at the very least, administrative warrants would
be needed before allowing inspectors to search homes.

However, it will not stop Langley from moving ahead with plans to
revitalize its own PSIT unit.

"We will incorporate the case into the bylaw," said Township
administrator Mark Bakken.

The case has clarified what is needed for municipal workers to inspect
a home, Bakken said. He isn't sure yet who will issue the
administrative warrants.

They might be issued by a Justice of the Peace, or possibly by a third
party appointed by the Township.

Bakken said the Township still hopes to have a new bylaw written by
June or July, and to get the team operating again by the fall.

Langley's PSIT operated in 2008, and found more than 220 grow ops,
along with some homeowners who simply had bad wiring, or a large
number of power tools.

Residents got advance notice of visits, and no criminal charges could
be laid. In almost all cases, the grow ops they found had been hastily
dismantled or abandoned.

The intent of the teams was to eliminate the hazard caused by the bad
wiring in grow ops, which often leads to fires. Another objective was
to disrupt the growers' activities.

The team was at first shut down after a firefighter, who had
accompanied the team, was charged with theft for taking a flashlight
from one home.

The team's return was stalled as local officials waited to see the
outcome of the Surrey court case.