COPS SHOULD LOSE OBSESSION WITH POT IF CASH IS THE ISSUE

Abbotsford council is completely off-base with its proposed bylaw that
would force landlords to fork over cash for police costs and city
inspection if cops shut down a marijuana grow operation in the landlord's
rental home.

City council has given three readings to the Big Brother bylaw (officially
known as the Controlled Substance Property Bylaw), which means its adoption
is one vote away.

That council is even considering punishing one party for the actions of
another is ridiculous. It is even more preposterous when one considers that
many of the landlords to be affected may not even know their rental homes
were housing grow operations until after the cops have made the bust.

Coun. Simon Gibson, a proponent of the bylaw, said he "wasn't persuaded
this initiative would penalize those landlords who are very vigilant in
choosing their tenants." Abbotsford Police have also told council that some
tenants have been 'willfully blind' in choosing tenants.

Well, at what point does vigilance cross the line into discrimination?

A pot grower is not easily identifiable. A shady-looking man looking to
rent an older home in Clearbrook is as likely to grow marijuana in the
basement as is a clean-cut couple with a dog, cat and minivan.

Last year, the Abbotsford Police held a forum on marijuana grow operations,
designed to help landlords identify such plantations in their rental homes.
Police noted that Vietnamese were behind 85 per cent of all grow operations
busted.

According to the logic of its proponents, does vigilance mean refusing to
rent to people of Asian origins?

In case they have forgotten, that, too, is illegal.

At that same forum, police officers spent some time complaining about an
irritating document known as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
which states that police cannot trespass on property without the tenant's
permission.

And that permission cannot be given by the landlord as it would take away
the Charter rights of the tenant.

The landlord, meanwhile, must give adequate notification if he wishes to
inspect the rental property, by which time evidence of the pot growing
operation can be hidden.

Does the city really believe landlords have the time to be so vigilant?

Perhaps city council and the police board could look at reducing
skyrocketing costs by simply toning down the department's obsession with
stamping out a relatively minor crime, one whose major problems exist
precisely because of its illegality.