Finding a tougher go of it in the big cities, organized crime groups are buying property on the Sunshine Coast to run grow-ops, Sunshine Coast RCMP say.
"On the Sunshine Coast over the last couple years, we've noticed a rise in marijuana grow operations with criminal groups coming up from the Lower Mainland and setting up shop here. They have no ties to the Coast other than setting up marijuana grow operations," said Const. Glen Martin of the RCMP street crew.
Martin, along with serious crimes commander Sgt. Russ Howard and newly appointed detachment commander Sgt. Herb Berdall, appeared at the Monday, Jan. 10, policing committee meeting at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to ask for local government help in combating the grow ops.
"Vancouver is so aggressive in their enforcement of marijuana grow operations, they have pushed a lot of it outside. A lot of it was Asian organized crime and that's what we've seen here. We've seen six or seven in the last year," Howard said.
Howard said homes used for grow ops present a danger to potential future owners of the home in that they typically have faulty wiring, physical structures that have been tampered with, mould and chemical contamination. They are also more commonly targeted for "grow rips" where criminals break in to steal drugs before they can be harvested. Just hours after Monday's meeting, a Roberts Creek family was violently targeted for a grow rip by thieves posing as police, though the family had no connection to grow ops. (See story below.)
Howard said legal grow ops, licensed by Health Canada for medicinal marijuana growth, are prone to the same problems. Making matters worse, licensed grow ops are not required to register with local police and gangs are known to get licences and exploit them, growing hundreds more plants than are permitted.
Though there was no specific request from the RCMP, Martin said SCRD could be helpful when it comes to building inspections on homes that may have been used as grow ops.
"That's probably the biggest deterrent that these groups face - when they have to do the proper repairs to the structure afterwards," Martin said.
Some jurisdictions have bylaws in place that allow for inspections of homes suspected to be grow ops, while others have bylaws in place that prevent licensed growers from growing plants for anyone other than themselves.
The Town of Gibsons currently has a bylaw that requires homes that have been used as grow ops to be remediated before they can be resold and occupied. A permit to begin remediation on a grow op house costs $2,000.
But SCRD directors were not eager to sign on for any new bylaws, citing concerns over civil liberties and changing the role regional districts typically play when it comes to the law.
"If there's a suggestion that where the police aren't able to get a search warrant, but a bylaw officer can go in without a search warrant - that to me is a very skewed concept," said Roberts Creek director Donna Shugar. "The one thing I might consider is if a property has been designated a grow op and a referral comes from the RCMP that there be some required inspection from our building department. Beyond that, it seems to me that we're talking about moving into an area that is outside our jurisdiction and it is not our job to be an enforcer for criminal activity."
The committee passed several resolutions asking staff to bring back more information on what bylaws other jurisdictions have regarding grow ops for discussion at a future committee meeting.
