POLICE LEARN A LESSON

City police have apologized to a family whose home was mistakenly raided as
a marijuana-growing operation. Now police must do everything they can to
make sure it doesn't happen again.

We don't want to slam police too harshly. Everyone makes mistakes and Chief
Ray Fitzpatrick quickly sent the family a written apology.

But this was a real screwup. A 17-year-old boy was publicly arrested by
several officers at one of the busiest intersections in the city, searched,
handcuffed and held at the police station for two hours.

Khoa Nguyen was terrified during the arrest at Oxford Street and King
George Road. Later he was concerned people who saw the arrest might think
he is a criminal.

If police had done their homework, the boy would have been spared "one of
the worst experiences of my life."

Grow houses are a serious problem. Police have raided 22 in all areas of
the city since last November. Many arrests have involved persons of
Vietnamese descent.

Brantford Power has been helping police with tips about houses that
suddenly use unusual amounts of electricity ? a sign that plant-growing
lights are operating 24 hours a day. The utility also is on the alert for
sudden falls in power consumption, a sign that the hydro meter has been
bypassed.

When Brantford Power saw something odd happening with hydro use at a home
on Batson Crescent, police were notified and secured a search warrant. They
arrested Nguyen as he drove to school, obtained the house key from him,
searched the house and brought in Brantford Power to check for a meter bypass.

Police soon realized the place was not a grow house and released Nguyen.

At least three things were done wrong.

Brantford Power should have looked harder at the home's electricity use.
The family has lived in the home for three years and the bills, until now,
have been constant.

Police with a little research easily could have determined the house did
not fit the profile of a marijuana-growing operation. Real grow houses have
extra heating vents, the windows are curtained and the neighbours wonder
why residents don't seem to be around.

There was no need to arrest Khoa Nguyen as he drove to school. Police could
have presented their search warrant after he or his mother returned home.
If this were a grow house, the plants and equipment would still be there in
the afternoon.

Police and Brantford Power have not acknowledged this, but Khoa Nguyen
can't help thinking there would have been no raid if his family's name were
Smith or Jones instead of Nguyen.

On the same day as Nguyen's arrest, police in Cambridge acting on an
inaccurate tip from a power utility bashed in the door of a Vietnamese
family in a mistaken search for a marijuana operation.

Cambridge police and Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro have apologized and
are reviewing their procedures.

Home grows are a scourge but police must be careful as they root them out.