HYDRO HELPS COPS BUST POT HOUSES

Increased involvement by hydro utilities in 2003 helped pull the plug
on a large number of indoor marijuana grow operations in York Region.

Sgt. Mike Klimm, who led the York Regional Police drug squad's
operations against grow houses for the past three years, said
information from utilities about theft of power led to estimations at
the start of the year that one of every 100 houses in York Region was
a grow house.

"That's now down to one out of every 500," said Sgt.
Klimm.

"This was the year we got our act together with the utility companies.
Now, they're all on the same page."

He said the increased success in finding and closing down grow houses
came with the police strategy of forming partnerships with other
agencies, such as the utilities, children's aid societies and the
community at large.

"The awareness we generated made the residents of York Region more
informed," he said, adding this led to increased tips from the public.

With hydro utilities taking a harder and closer look at theft of
electricity -- often a tip-off to illegal grow operations, which
normally use excessive amounts of power to run banks of high-intensity
growing lights, pumps and fans -- many grow house operators changed
tactics and began paying for the power they used.

That didn't help them much, said Sgt. Klimm, noting hydro companies
then informed police of suspicious excessive use.

In one of the most successful operations in partnership with local
electrical utilities, run between Nov. 17 and 27, police executed 16
search warrants at 23 houses in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham.

They turned up a total of 6,267 marijuana plants, valued at more than
$6 million, 65 pounds of dried marijuana, valued at $130,000 and a
quantity of magic mushrooms and ecstasy pills, valued at $1,000.

Each of the 23 residences was located in a subdivision and renovated
for the sole purpose of growing marijuana.

On average, each residence was growing 273 marijuana plants, with each
plant estimated to be worth $1,000 on the street.

Sgt. Klimm said police are investigating other partnerships to
increase the force's ability to rid the area of marijuana operations.

"They're not welcome in York Region," he said.

But Sgt. Klimm's assessment aside, the Ontario Association of Chiefs
of Police reported recently that indoor grow operations increased in
Ontario by 250 per cent between 2000 and 2002. During the period, grow
houses produced as much as 1.2 million kilograms of marijuana with
revenue estimated to be as high as $12.7 billion.

The association reported as many as 10,000 children and their families
may have been living in grow houses and tending these plants.

In 2002, Ontario's electricity sector may have lost $85 million to
electricity theft associated with grow operations.