POLICE PROGRAM PUTS THE HEAT ON HOME GROW-OPS

Hydro meter spinning like a whirling dervish?

Aluminum foil covering windows?

A "skunky" smell when the wind is right?

You might be living next to one of the thousand marijuana grow-operations
Chilliwack RCMP say are out there in the community.

Amazingly, to both police and reporters who deal with the topic all the
time, many people don't know exactly what a grow operation is and how
dangerous a fire hazard it can be.

Educating the public -- and landlords of rental properties where many of
the illegal grow-ops are found -- is the aim of a new police program being
launched officially at City Hall on Tuesday.

The launch of the Safe Home, Safe Community program starts at 7 p.m. and
includes tips on how to spot grow-ops and the dangers they pose, and the
rights -- and responsibilities -- of landlords who find they've rented to
the wrong person.

RCMP Const. Roxanne Dowden, who heads up the detachment's four-member
Strike Force section that's aimed exclusively at taking down marijuana
grow-operations, says some landlords will rent out a property to virtual
strangers, without checking any I.D., sometimes even without getting a last
name.

"It's amazing," she says, during an interview, in the RCMP's new community
policing office, located in the former detachment building on Airport Road.

Many landlords are also unaware that any damages to their property stemming
from a tenant using the premises for a grow-op is strictly their
responsibility, she says.

And there is always damage from a grow-op, she adds, from holes in the
walls to the inevitable mold that comes from growing marijuana plants under
hot lights.

"It ruins gyproc, it ruins ceilings," she says.

Const. Dave Aucoin, the detachment's media liaison, says landlords who
register with the program might also be surprised to discover insurance
companies won't cover premises where grow-ops have been found.

And they might not know they can be stuck with huge hydro electric bills
from the enormous electrical power required by grow-op lighting.

"Landlords are also victims of illegal activities," he says.

Protecting both groups is the aim of the Safe Home, Safe Community program.

Like Blockwatch, the voluntary program gives neighbourhoods and landlords
the information they need to recognize grow -ops and how to report them.

"It's a good-neighbour concept is what it is," Const. Dowden says.

Calling the RCMP to report a suspected grow-op, even anonymously, is enough
to open a file for follow-up investigation, she says. But information from
a landlord who suspects a tenant is growing marijuana on his rental
property can bring "immediate" action once a search warrant is obtained.

Pamphlets outlining the details of the program are being mailed out with
municipal tax statements to about 25,000 homes, and a website will soon be
launched. For more program information call the RCMP community policing
station at 604-792-8030.