SNIFFING AROUND

A team of RCMP officers, firefighters and city staff poked around
Richard Pitt's house on Wednesday because it had unusually high Hydro readings.

Pitt had a valid reason for his energy consumption, which he
explained to safety inspection team members on Tuesday. He even
invited them in that day to have a look.

But they refused, instead returning the next day - a convoy of police
cars, fire trucks and city vehicles pulling up to his front door for
all the neighbours to see - following procedure and hunting for a
marijuana grow operation, or faulty wiring.

The team was assembled in September as part of a pilot project to
weed out grow ops through safety inspections - first issuing a
24-hour warning, then marching in - members getting paid between $30
and $100 an hour.

Such inspection teams are popping up around the Lower Mainland. The
one in Pitt Meadows has inspected 34 homes so far. It hasn't found a
grow-op yet, only a few leaves.

It didn't find any such thing at Pitt's house. It did find about 10
computers used to operate a website with video feeds from around the
province of eagles' nests.

In a twist of irony, Wild is complaining that his privacy has been invaded.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association claims that safety inspection
teams are skirting the law by evading the search warrant process,
which can be a lot of work. And for what when marijuana cultivators
are rarely convicted or spend time in jail?

That is an issue for the lawmakers.

Law enforcers shouldn't be able to walk into just anybody's house
under the guise of public safety and snoop for things that smell funny.

According to the Canadian charter, "Everyone has the right to be
secure against an unreasonable search or seizure." That should
include in Pitt Meadows.