COURT PUTS HEAT ON GROW-OPS

OTTAWA--Don't expect your home to be your castle if you've got a
marijuana grow-op in the basement.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday police do not need a
warrant to scan homes with infra-red technology looking for excessive
heat emanations that could be caused by a pot-growing operation inside.

Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, which took a strict view of the
sanctity of the home and required police to get warrants for heat
scans, Canada's top court says the thermal imaging technology is a
crude snapshot of outside surfaces of a home, not an intrusive image
of what's going on inside, and therefore is not an "unreasonable search."

Justice Ian Binnie, writing for a 7-0 unanimous court, ruled the
infra-red scans just give a black-and-white "hot-not" picture.

That distinction is key, the judges decided.

The court said citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy over
activities in their home, but can't reasonably expect the same privacy
regarding a home's heat emissions.

The heat could be generated by a sauna, a pottery kiln, an overheated
toaster or the high-intensity halide lamps marijuana "grow-ops" use.

Police can't tell by using thermal imaging scans, and therefore don't
require a judicial authorization, the court held. Binnie made clear
police can't use results of the scan, known as Forward-Looking
Infra-Red Radar or FLIR technology, to persuade a judge to issue a
search warrant.

Officers must have more sound information, say a tip from an
informant, before a judge could grant a search warrant to go inside
the home.

The ruling overturns an Ontario Court of Appeal decision written by
Justice Rosalie Abella, who has just been elevated to the top court.

The case involves Walter Tessling of Kingsville, who was charged in
1999 after police found marijuana with an estimated street value of
$15,000-$20,000, two sets of scales, freezer bags and several guns in
his home.

Tessling lost a bid at trial to have evidence tossed out on the basis
of an invalid search warrant, but successfully appealed to the Ontario
Court of Appeal. He has served about 10 days of an 18-month sentence
on drug and firearms charges, and must now begin to serve that term.