Grow-op conference gets underway in Banff
Posted Mar 27, 2012 1:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A three day conference focusing on the issue of marijuana grow-ops got underway Tuesday in Banff.
The gathering is being hosted by the City of Calgary, Calgary Police and the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team, better known as ALERT.
Over the past 8 years the city has pulled the plug on hundreds of grow-ops, but the President of the Calgary Police Association says there are more.
“I think we’re only hiting 10 or 15 per cent, so we need to identify — we need the public’s help in identifying — the rest of residences that are out there,” John Dooks tells 660News.
Dooks claims grow-ops are bio-hazard as well as presenting potential problems.
“These homes are notorious are for attraction to guns and violent criminals,” he continues. “They’re often targets of home invasions. So they are very dangerous residences to have in a private neighbourhood.”
(If you) “see something that’s suspicious or concerns you, please report it,” Dooks adds. “We’d rather have somebody report something that’s not relevant than to miss something that’s very important. It just takes a few people to make these calls. We can identify these residences and shut them down sooner than later.”
“We could bring organized crime to their knees,” says alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart, a major backer of the conference, and who points a finger at power companies as part of the problem.
“Step up and do the right thing and stop the power,” Colley-Urquhart tells 660News. “If they did that, they could bring organized crime to their knees.”
Colley-Urquhart says only with a concerted joint effort can municipalities remove grow-ops.
