INFRARED CAMERAS TAKE HEAT IN COURT

An Ottawa police aerial surveillance technology that can detect marijuana
home-grow operations could be grounded after a court ruling this week.

Equipped with Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR), the aircraft can use thermal
imaging to identify excess heat energy generated by high-powered lights and
exhaust fans in marijuana grow houses.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that a homeowner's right to
privacy extends to the heat generated inside and detectable on the outside,
and a warrant is required. The ruling could protect dozens of marijuana
grow houses in Ottawa from overhead thermal detection by police.

Illegal Search

The court acquitted Walter Tessling of Kingsville, Ont., near Windsor, of
charges of possessing firearms and marijuana seized after an RCMP plane
equipped with a FLIR camera flew over his home in May 1999.

In its decision, the appeal court excluded a large quantity of marijuana
and weapons discovered in Tessling's home because they were seized as a
result of an illegal search in which the FLIR camera played a central role.

"Clearly the judge says that to use that evidence you have to use a warrant
... so that is going to hinder our investigations," said Ottawa narcotics
Staff Sgt. Bob Pulfer.

"We rely on other investigative avenues to determine if there's an indoor
grow. And certainly it would be nice to be able to use the FLIR, but if
we're going to be prohibited by the use of a warrant it would curtail us
using that technology."

Investigate Tips

Typically, police will receive tips and information about an address.
Officers will then fly over the area using the FLIR while another officer
stays on the ground in a vehicle.

When the infrared camera detects an unusually hot pattern in a home, the
ground officer notes the address and the information can be included in a
search warrant.

Police stress that the technology has the ability to distinguish the
difference between normal home activity, like a hot tub, and a grow operation.

In June 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the use of FLIR in the
detection of marijuana gardens, without a search warrant, is a violation of
privacy, and constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure.