COURT RULES COPS CAN SCAN HOMES

OTTAWA -- It's legal for police to scan homes using heat-detecting
equipment, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. In a unanimous decision
yesterday, the high court said infrared cameras can be used by authorities
without violating the constitutional right to privacy.

The ruling overturns an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that described
RCMP infrared aerial surveillance as a technological invasion of privacy.

Justice Ian Binnie wrote that individual privacy is not violated by police
using heat-sensitive equipment to survey houses for signs of hidden
marijuana grow-ops. The decision restores the conviction and 18-month
sentence for Walter Tessling of Windsor, Ont. Police detected his
hydroponic marijuana operation in 1999 using airborne infrared equipment.