CDR: Re: Re: police IR searches to Supremes

[Michael Motyka]

>          I'm having a very difficult time comprehending how plant
>lights could even remotely be construed as "probable cause" -- don't the
>courts have any idea of the millions of little old ladies (and whoever)
>who use plant lights for their house plants? Or of the multitudes who
>use them to jump start gardens every Spring, or the many who actually
>grow veggies hydroponically in their basement?
>
>--
>Harmon Seaver, MLIS     Systems Librarian
>

I think that the typical indoor growers they go after are not starting a
few seedlings or lighting their African Violets. The typical find is an
entire room set up as a greenhouse. Those get pretty hot. I think in the
past step one has been to search Electrical Utilities records ( reduced
expectation of privacy? ) and look for statistical outliers. Then you go
image the place ( no expectation of privacy, apparently ) and say yup,
there's 2kW of lights in one room, can only mean one thing. Then they
don their gear and go bust some heads. Oops. I meant to say they get a
warrant and then they don their gear and go bust some heads. Unless
they're sure that some children are in danger then they skip right by
the warrant nonsense, don their gear and go bust some heads. They like
the busting heads part. It's cool.

They also follow people home from stores that supply hydroponics
equipment on the assumption that the only people who need this sort of
stuff are criminals. Seems buying hydroponics gear is cause to begin
surveillance.

The war on drugs is yet another case of the cure being worse than the
disease. In fact the cure is a whole new ( well, not that new ) vile
disease in itself.

Mike

BTW I tried the hydroponic vegatables thing once. Some fresh greens or
spices are nice but it's not economical to use electric lights
exclusively.
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