TURNING UP THE HEAT ON BAD TENANTS

Infrared Camera Can Be Used by Landlords to Detect the Presence of A
Marijuana Grow Op

A local security company is offering a new weapon in the ongoing
battle between marijuana grow operators and Chilliwack landlords.

Griffin Investigation & Security Services says it has acquired a new
infrared camera can both detect grow ops and prevent them from taking
over, and destroying homes, in the first place.

Griffin's chairman and chief executive officer Brain Goldstone said
landlords can hire his company to perform monthly heat checks of their
homes. The camera takes an image of a structure's "heat signature."
Grow operations typically require vast amounts of heat and energy and,
Goldstone says, are easy to spot using the camera.

"The house will actually glow," said Goldstone, a former RCMP
officer.

The camera itself is not enough to prove the existence of a grow
operation. For that, an inspection is required. Once an anomalous heat
pattern is detected, Goldstone says his company will alert the
homeowner, who can either do an inspection him or herself, or hire
Griffin to complete that task. Landlords must give tenants notice
before an inspection and Goldstone believes that such notice should
drive off any grow operators who may have set up shop. But that, he
said, is a victory.

He said the camera can also serve as a deterrent. Clients will be
given letters--which they can in turn hand potential renters--stating
that homes will be subject to monthly heat inspections.

"If you're planning on renting this property to put a grow op in it
and you know someone's going to be coming by this property, you'll go
somewhere else," he said.

As for privacy concerns, Goldstone said the camera--which mounts on top
of a vehicle and costs $14,000--is not powerful enough to see into homes.

"It won't penetrate glass or look through windows, and we don't want
it to," he said. The scans, which can often be done from the road,
only register heat given off by the walls of the home, said Goldstone.

Hiring Griffin doesn't come without a cost--about $900 per year per
home--but Goldstone believes there will be sufficient demand from
landlords worried about the cost of cleaning up after grow operations
and paying the accompanying fines.

The camera won't only be used to try and detect grow operations.
Griffin is contracted to provide security for the City of Chilliwack
and he said the company used it Thursday night to scan local parks
after dark for trespassers. It also will be available, he said, for
search and rescue operations in instances where a mobile unit is required.