THE CHIEF'S HIGHEST GOAL

Inside City Hall

Julian Fantino's quest for a police helicopter lives on after his departure
from 40 College St.

A recent police report pleads for a special marijuana grow-op team, making
a link between increased pot-grower activity and the lack of a chopper in
Toronto.

Staff-Inspector Dan Hayes, head of the Toronto Police drug squad, contends
that marijuana-makers north of Steeles Avenue fear being spotted by the
police chopper in York Region. The bird is outfitted with an infrared
sensor so that overheated pot operations light up like Roman candles.

But York Regional Police spokeswoman Laurie Perks says they don't use their
chopper to search for grow-ops, since they can't get search warrants based
on big infrared-sensor readings alone.

"We haven't used it in a long time [for a grow-op bust], actually,"
Constable Perks said. She added that use of the chopper was restricted
until the Supreme Court of Canada ruled last year that infrared sensors
were not a Charter of Rights violation.

Staff-Insp. Hayes stressed he isn't asking for a chopper, still a
"politically charged" issue in Toronto. But if he had one, he said it could
scan the city for "hot points" that could be grow-ops?

And who needs a fancy helicopter with Councillor Mike Del Grande
(Scarborough-Agincourt) and Liberal MP Jim Arygiannis, publicly on patrol
for ganja growers in Scarborough?