'GROW OP WAR WON'

Cities are winning the war against crime on some fronts, but face
setbacks on others, according to panelists at the Union of B.C.
Municipalities convention this past week.

Marijuana growers seem to be in rapid retreat, especially in Surrey,
where civic officials are poised to declare victory over local grow-ops.

The most powerful weapon hasn't been increased conventional
policing, but rather the threat of electrical inspections and
service disconnections for residential homes that B.C. Hydro records
show have extreme power consumption, a tell-tale sign of a grow-op.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis told delegates the 1,000 suspected
grow-ops identified in his city - which were generating at least
$600 million a year in illicit revenue - are now thought to be
mostly dismantled after about a year and a half.

In many cases growers flee without waiting for inspectors to show up.

"By the end of November, we expect we're going to be done and we're
going to be looking for work," Garis said.

He said the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative teams have succeeded
in running off the grow-ops at no cost to the criminal justice
system and at a fraction of the cost of a police investigation.

Pitt Meadows council recently extended a safety inspection program
for six more months.

Garis suggested other cities lodge Freedom of Information requests
through B.C. Hydro to find out the number of likely grow-ops.

The tactic began as a means to protect firefighters and other homes
from fires that frequently arose from badly wired grow-ops. Civic
officials concluded the justice system provided virtually no
deterrent to pot growers even when police had the time to investigate.

It's estimated two per cent of total B.C.'s total electricity
production is being consumed by grow-ops.

A move by B.C. Hydro towards real-time digital power meters is
expected to help flag suspected grow-ops more quickly.

Garis said Surrey is now looking at regulations to restrict stores
that sell hydroponic equipment. B.C. has 50 times as many such
outlets as Washington state and 34 times as many as in Alberta.

Meanwhile, cities are being warned that they may run into trouble
when they try to track criminals using techniques that may run afoul
of privacy laws.

New Westminster recently lost a court challenge of a bylaw that
required pawn shops to record information on customers to aid police
investigations.

Lawyer James Yearley said similar challenges may crop up elsewhere,
and even recordings of video cameras used to counter crime may be
deemed an unreasonable search or seizure under the law.