HYDRO FIGHTS RCMP ON POWER RECORDS

NV Detachment Backs Off on Court Order for Heavy Consumers

THE North Vancouver RCMP have backed off on a request that would have
forced BC Hydro to turn over the records of more than a thousand
North Vancouver homeowners using large amounts of power to police.

On Thursday, at a closed-door hearing in North Vancouver provincial
court, the federal department of justice withdrew the request for the
Hydro records after facing a court challenge by the power authority.

BC Hydro filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court this month fighting
the request after a North Vancouver judge ordered the power company
to hand over a list of residential addresses to police of anyone in
North Vancouver whose power consumption averaged more than 93
kilowatt hours per day.

Details about why the North Vancouver RCMP made the unusual request
have been sealed by the court, but are believed to involve a search
for potential marijuana growing operations, which typically use large
amounts of electricity.

BC Hydro asked for a judicial review of the decision, arguing the
order was too broad.

In an affidavit filed in court, the power company expressed concern
that the order could end up forcing it to hand over records of
law-abiding citizens and subjecting them to a police investigation
even though there is little likelihood they are involved in marijuana grow-ops.

Scott Macdonald, privacy manager at BC Hydro, wrote that for the
month of February 2010 alone there were 1,115 residences in North
Vancouver using electricity over the threshold set in the court
order. In winter months, province-wide up to 100,000 Hydro customers
who use electrical space heaters would normally use more than 93 kWh
of electricity each day, wrote Macdonald.

Even in summer, "many luxury residences with swimming pools,
fountains, greenhouses or medium to large pumps also consume in
excess of 93 kWh per day," wrote Macdonald.

Const. Michael McLaughlin, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP,
said Friday the department is aware the court order compelling B.C.
Hydro to produce the records has now been revoked "and we are
certainly going to respect that decision," he said.

McLaughlin refused to comment specifically on why the detachment's
drug section made the request.

But McLaughlin acknowledged the RCMP were trying out a new approach
to nabbing criminals.

"The RCMP and its members have many tools to investigate drug
operations. We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't look for new
avenues (of investigation)," he said. "This was one of those
explorations into a new avenue."

McLaughlin added production orders are routinely granted by the
courts for police to access to banking and phone records in the
course of their investigations. Most of those, however, are narrower in scope.

Brent Olthuis, a lawyer who recently represented the B.C. Civil
Liberties Association in challenging warrantless searches of
suspected grow-ops by municipal inspectors, said he was surprised at
the broad scope of the North Vancouver production order.

"I'd be quite surprised and I think my client would be alarmed at
such a production order being sought in the first place, let alone
being granted," he said.

"We'd expect the police to seek orders that are closely tailored in
their scope, not something so broad ranging as this."

But McLaughlin said law-abiding citizens shouldn't be unduly worried
- -- even if they use a lot of power.

"The police are not going for a legitimate citizen with a hot tub.
We're going for criminals," he said. "We wouldn't be using this tool
if we didn't think it was pointing us to criminal behaviour versus
someone using a lot of power."

McLaughlin said he's seen some figures that point to some grow-ops as
using more than 17 times the power that would be expected at a normal
home, although "you do get into the area of what's normal and what's
not," he said.

McLaughlin said he couldn't speculate on whether the RCMP would be
putting in another similar request for Hydro records to the court.

Recently the B.C. Court of Appeal struck down part of a provincial
law that allowed municipal inspectors to search for electrical
problems that may be related marijuana grow-ops without warrants.

Inspectors can still monitor homes for spikes in hydro consumption however.