JUDGES NOT COMPROMISED BY LETTER, POLICE CHIEF SAYS

Police Chief Larry Gravill says a letter sent to judges about home-grow
operations reflected the public's concerns on the issue.

The controversy over local judges receiving a letter from regional
councillors pressing for tougher penalties for indoor marijuana operations
was blown out of proportion, says Waterloo regional police Chief Larry Gravill.

Politicians were simply passing on the public's concerns to judges, he said.

"There is a community context to all of this and that's what the council
was trying to convey," Gravill said yesterday after a brief police board
meeting.

"How else would a council communicate to the judiciary?" he said.

Last month, regional council passed a resolution calling for a five-year
jail sentence for anyone convicted of running large indoor pot labs.

Copies of the motion were sent to all local judges, MPs and MPPs and the
solicitors general of Ontario and Canada.

The police board also joined the call for stiffer penalties, but without
demanding a prison term.

Gravill said the intent was not to influence judges. Politicians were
passing on residents' concerns about home-grows in their neighbourhoods, he
said.

"We know that judicial independence is something that is at the very heart
of a democracy," he said. "Their integrity is not in question."

However, the letter has angered some local lawyers who say they plan to ask
for stays on their marijuana cases and look for "impartial judges."

Gravill said he doesn't think local judges will agree to a stay because
"judges would have to admit that they have been influenced.

"If they (lawyers) can find another community that is living in a vacuum, I
suppose it's possible."

Regional chairman and police board chairman Ken Seiling has taken most of
the heat over the resolution.

"I think this is best put to bed. I don't have any interest in escalating
this debate any further," he said.

Seiling said the same motion was passed by all area municipal councils and
the move was an effort to raise the issue with federal and provincial
governments.

"I think they (municipal politicians) felt they had a responsibility to
represent their concerns about their communities. It starts there and it
ends there," he said.

"This was just simply a circulation out of courtesy to everybody."

To date, all but one of those convicted of growing large amounts of pot
indoors have received house arrest.

The first jail term was issued in January when Justice Colin Westman
sentenced a 45-year-old man to a year in custody. Westman told the court
that it was the first time evidence pointed to the potential fire and
electrical hazards of a home-grow.