[420 Girl]

Marijuana grow-ops are down 81 per cent in Surrey -- and the city wants other communities to follow suit.

Surrey Mayor Diane Watts said the decrease was a result of the Electrical Fire Safety Inspection program launched in 2005.

The program was created after provincial legislation changes in 2004 allowed municipalities to request customers' residential records from B.C. Hydro. The city has since completed 1,370 inspections, finding grow-ops in 76 per cent of the properties.

Now Watts wants other cities to jump on board.

Two guidebooks offering anecdotal advice and research about grow-ops will be released at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention Monday.

The guidebooks were co-authored by University of the Fraser Valley criminologist Darryl Plecas, fire chief Len Garis, Dr. Irwin Cohen and Amanda McCormick.

"The books lay out what we have learned in dealing with this problem over the last five years," Watts said in a release. "I believe that all communities must work together and share best practices."

Plecas said Surrey's success may mean grow-ops have simply moved to other municipalities.

"These guidebooks were developed in part because we wished we had had something like this when we first started," Garis added. "Now other communities can quickly assess what it will take to put into place the necessary teams and processes."

Surrey's crackdown included creating bylaws placing responsibility for grow-ops on landlords, property owners and businesses.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...y-program.html