POT BYLAW NOT LEADING TO ARRESTS FROM TIPS

More than a year has gone by since Maple Ridge's grow-op bylaw was
passed, but so far only two drug raids can be traced directly to the
new law.

According to bylaws director Brock McDonald, out of 50 to 60 search
warrants executed by police in 2005, one or two resulted from a tip
from a landlord.

The bylaw, passed in late 2004, requires landlords to inspect homes,
condos and apartments every three months and report any signs of
marijuana grow-ops or meth labs. If they don't, they could be stuck
with heavy financial penalties, such as paying for police or
firefighter wages required for dismantling a drug lab, as well as
municipal permits.

Even if they do inspections regularly, the landlords would still be
stuck with the cleanup and repair costs.

But the bylaw bothers both Clark Browning, newly arrived from Ontario,
and the Tenants' Rights Action Coalition.

In a letter to The News, Browning objects to the March 1 search of his
apartment on Royal Crescent.

"Effectively, the council has deputized all the landlords to conduct
otherwise illegal searches of your homes to look for drugs and then
tell the authorities if they find them," Browning writes. "Imagine, if
you will, that four times a year, the RCMP knocked on your door and
demanded to inspect your home, your living room, your bedroom -- just
in case you were doing something illegal.

"Since I don't do drugs and certainly don't have a grow-op, I have a
problem with this. Do you?"

Tom Durning with the Tenants Rights Action Coalition, doesn't oppose
such bylaws, common in Lower Mainland municipalities. But he questions
their effectiveness, citing police reports who say the trend has now
changed and drug producers are more likely to buy their own homes.

But who, he asked, is inspecting owner-occupied homes? And what about
commercial buildings?

"I think it's a way of city councils copping out," to make it look
like they're doing something, he said.

"We don't have any evidence that grow-ops are rental
properties."

However, according to McDonald, 90 per cent of the drug raids done in
2005 in Maple Ridge involved rental properties.

Cpl. Bernie Smandych with Ridge Meadows RCMP said the bylaw does make
landlords more accountable for their buildings.

Under the new bylaw, the district will be billing the landlords
between $150,000 and $160,000 to recover policing costs from those
searches.

Durning, though, didn't think the bylaw was a hardship for tenants.
Most landlords probably don't do inspections unless they suspect
something, he said. Under the Residential Tenancy Act, landlords can
inspect their properties once a month, providing 24 hours' written
notice is given.

Maureen Lyons, who manages the apartment where Browning lives, said
most people accept the inspections. "The response I'm getting is,
'I've got nothing to hide. Come on in.' "

Lyons said when landlords or managers make inspections, they must be
accompanied by a witness. "You're not allowed to search. Just walk in
and walk out."

If anything illegal is seen, landlords are to report it, she said.