NOTHING!

What's To Stop a Dangerous 905 Grow House From Going Right Back on The
Market?

SO WHAT'S to stop a hazardous grow house from going right back on the
market after police make the bust? Nothing, if the house is located in
York, Durham, Peel or Halton Regions.

Within the GTA, only the City of Toronto has such a protocol, and only
for the past few weeks.

How can that be? Det.-Sgt. Karen Noakes can't answer.

As head of York Region's Drugs and Vice Enforcement Bureau, Noakes
wonders what's preventing police and municipal officials in the region
from getting together to stop dangerous grow lab houses from being
resold, many times as is -- and without warning potential buyers of
the home's past use.

"That's one of the areas we've had a lot of concerns with ourselves -
what happens with this house?" Noakes said. "We believe it should be
inspected - electrically, medically, and deemed to be fit for
habitation again."

Noakes said the public would be better served by a co-ordinated plan
that would ensure that other municipal officials -- such as building
inspectors and public health officials -- picking up where police
leave off to ensure the busted home is fit to live in.

A bill introduced in Queen's Park last month by community safety
minister Monte Kwinter would allow hydro companies to disconnect a
property's power if a grow operation is inspected and, among other
measures, to require building inspections of all former grow-op homes.

Noakes is waiting to see what the proposed legislation would mean for
police and municipal authorities, who need a set of rules governing
what can and should be done with a grow-op property after the bust.

"You sort of lose any communication as to what goes on with that home,
and that's where you get the concern that an unsuspecting buyer is
moving into the home, having no idea it might have been a grow op
prior to that," Noakes said.

Presence of chemicals and fertilizer, mould contamination, and
dangerous electrical hook-ups are a few of the major hazards common to
grow houses, drug cops routinely warn.

York Region's police do not have a set-in-stone way of alerting
municipal agencies to these safety issues. Neither do cops in Peel,
Halton or Durham.

The City of Toronto, however, does have a plan in place. Municipal
Licensing and Standards executive director Pam Coburn explained the
Toronto protocol.

Police must submit a 'grow report' to her department within 24 hours
of busting a lab. While the report does not have to contain the entire
police summation of evidence found at the scene, it must include a
description of the building's physical condition, filed by officers
involved in the bust.

Licensing and standards then forwards the report to a distribution
list of organizations including fire, public health, hydro, works and
emergency services, water and waste water, building inspection, and
others -- in an effort to alert these agencies to possible bylaw
infractions or 'deficiencies' in the home that would require action,
Coburn said.

"Without a protocol like this in place, city agencies would be left
with no information to rely on in order to enforce our local bylaws,"
Coburn said.

The onus is then put on the property's owner to prove to city
officials the building is structurally sound and free of environmental
contaminants, Coburn said, adding that the owners must obtain the
approval of a qualified engineer.

Since the protocol took effect in October, licensing and standards has
received 15 such grow reports from police.

Coburn said grow houses are not just criminal matters, but issues of
public safety that reach beyond the realm of police.

"That is clearly the reason why the municipality is involved -- it's a
public safety issue," Coburn said.

In Halton Region, there's no set protocol in place, Sgt. Al Albano of
the Drug Enforcement Bureau said, explaining police rely on "common
sense" to determine what agencies to call when a place is busted.

"It's common sense, every situation calls for different things,"
Albano said. "Just like when you go to an accident, you don't
immediately notify the building department, fire, and city works -
you look at what you've got, and from there that's who you notify.

"It could be a number of agencies that you're going to call
in."

In Peel Region there is no set protocol, said Insp. Steve Asanin, head
of Peel Region's morality bureau, which fights drug crime. But
municipal agencies are notified if the circumstances warrant.

"If we see something that's a blatant hazard, we'll definitely notify
the proper authorities," Asanin said.

Durham Regional Police spokesman Dave Selby said police there will
contact Children's Aid if there are children living in a grow-op
house, or the fire department if there's any indication of possible
combustible materials or risk of explosion in the house, or public
health if such hazards seem evident in the home.

"We would call in whatever appropriate agency we would need to," Selby
said.