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Plainsman1963

Hydro will target suspected B.C. grow ops
04-19-06 | Sookenewsmirror.Com | Kevin Diakiw

Heavy users of electricity will be reported to police under new B.C. legislation.
Near the end of this month, municipalities will have BC Hydro records on demand, data which will be turned over to police to determine whether spikes in power use were caused by a marijuana grow operation.

Marijuana grow ops require high power consumption, typically three to 10 times the amount used by a normal home.
"This amendment will help local authorities target and shut down marijuana grow operations more quickly and more efficiently," Minister of Public Safety John Les said in the legislature Thursday, as he introduced Bill 25. "With these amendments, municipalities will now be able to obtain information from electricity companies about residences with unusual power consumption."

The names and addresses of the account holders will now be given to local authorities to investigate whether their homes contain a grow operation, he said.

One of the main impediments to the program, investigators say, has been the time-consuming process of acquiring BC Hydro information through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOI). To obtain an FOI request, the city first had to have tips from neighbours. Now the investigation process will be reversed: power records first, then assessment.
Launched last year, the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative (EFSI) involved fire, police, bylaw and building inspectors tracking high energy use and posting a notice that the home will be inspected in 48 hours.

Len Garis, Surrey Fire Chief, acknowledges the new legislation will be controversial.
"The new program may be viewed by some as an infringement of privacy, however it is believed that the public's safety is more compelling and outweighs any privacy rights," Garis said.

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MrIMStoned

"The new program may be viewed by some as an infringement of privacy, however it is believed that the public's safety is more compelling and outweighs any privacy rights,"

I really wanna smack this guy.

__________________
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"

nornerator

If they were the least bit concerned about public saftey they would legalize Marijuana and other street drugs to eliminate gangs.

Gangs get their money from selling drugs

They use that money to buy guns and more drugs

So what you have is an organized group of people with guns, drugs, and money. Gangs become greedy and want more turf to sell their drugs on. So they get into fights or "gang wars" with other gangs that are usually violent in nature over turf. Sometimes innocent people get caught in the cross fire.

Lollie

That's really scary!

Hawg

Being an electrician, there are a lot of things that can make your meter reading come out different, I believe it will cause unjust searches and harm innocent people and give them a reason to go after some one on rumors and not facts

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Figures don't lie but liars can figure

 

Little Nicky

This won't stop the growers. They'll just have smaller, more numerous, grow ops which won't exceed a typical household usage.

Xenon

wow. that's disgusting...people who get wrongfully searched will be furious which hopefully causes widespread disapproval of this new anti-grow measure.

:Peace:

Little Nicky

I wonder how many people will get busted as a result of the Hot Tub running all the time. No herb mind you, just a visit from the cops as a result of a high electric bill.

kb_chronic

Well, So if you left ur hottub running from the time u move in, turn on ur grow and off ur hottub. it should still look like normal usage

Little Nicky

Normal compared to a house of a similar square footage, not to the current residence.