KABAN BRANCHING OUT INTO GROW-OP SURVEILLANCE

A security firm's offer to accompany landlords into homes suspected of
harbouring marijuana grow-ops has angered the Tenants Rights Action
Coalition.

Kris Anderson of TRAC called the move an invasion of privacy, because
under new residential tenancy law the visits could occur every month.

"This is a real issue. We don't support grow-ops, but having a
stranger visiting a home to look around is not a good idea. It will
reinforce the tenants feeling that they are not in their own home and
impedes their right to the quiet enjoyment of their home," Anderson
said. "Why can't a landlord find out themselves if their home is being
used as a grow-op?"

Ozzie Kaban, owner of Vancouver-based Kaban Protective Services, is
promoting a new service in which a Kaban employee would either visit a
landlord's home, or accompany the landlord, to ensure the home is not
being used to cultivate marijuana. Kaban believes it's the first
service of its kind in B.C.

Hundreds of marijuana grow-ops are believed to operate in Vancouver.
The Vancouver Police Department's Grow Busters team raids six grow-ops
a day, most in rented homes containing on average 200 marijuana plants.

In February, the B.C. Real Estate Association ruled that realtors must
disclose whether a property for sale has been used as a marijuana
grow-op or methamphetamine laboratory. The City of Vancouver has also
decided that if a home is used as a grow-op more than once, a warning
to prospective buyers will be placed on the property's certificate of
title.

Grow-ops tend to damage a home because of the moist environment they
create. Growers may also alter the home's electrical and ventilation
systems and the plumbing may also be affected because the corrosive
fertilizers used on the plants often go down the drain.

Kaban said landlords who suspect a grow-op in their homes are often
fearful of confronting the tenant.

"What we want to do is give absentee landlords and owners who are
afraid to challenge their tenants the opportunity to know whether
their property is being used for a grow-op," said Kaban, a former
Mountie who has been in the private security business since 1972.

Kaban's employees include former RCMP, Vancouver cops and Canadian
Security and Intelligence Service employees. He also recently hired an
air sampling expert and is buying air sampling equipment to help
identify whether a marijuana grow-op or meth lab is present or has
been present in the home.

"We look for changes to the electrical system, ventilation system or
room structures. You might have a room that is 12 by 15 and then you
check it and it's 12 by 12. Where did that space go? We also look for
things like blackened windows and unusual activity around the home,"
Kaban said. He suggested the law could get increasingly tough on
landlords with grow-ops.

"There will come a time when houses are seized if they find a grow-op
inside. It won't be enough for the landlord to simply say I didn't
know."

Anne Drennan, VPD spokeswoman, said the police have been trying for
the past few years to make homeowners more accountable for activity on
their properties.

"As long as the security company doesn't take action, either verbally
or physically, or create a dangerous situation, then we think it would
be a very helpful service," Drennan said.

Kaban said that if his employees find a grow-op or meth lab, they will
notify the police right away.

"Once police have entered the property we can evict them almost
immediately," he said.

Anderson said there is nothing TRAC can do to legally prevent a
security worker accompanying a landlord into a home, or entering the
home as the landlord's proxy, as long as the tenant is given 24 hours
notice.