back to article Infant calls cops to dad's dope plantation

A British Columbia man can consider himself well and truly busted after his 11-month-old son accidentally dialled 911, leading cops to dad's dope plantation. According to the Canadian Press, Mounties received an emergency call from a residence in White Rock last Friday morning, but "whoever was on the other end of the line …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    "on charges of production of a controlled substance and mischief".

    Our lawmakers should take note, if we must have so many new laws can we at least name them in a more fun way... ".. and mischeif".

  2. Anthony Mark

    A quick search of the property?

    I woinder what excuse they had for that then, unless they routinely search every house they enter?

  3. Eddie Edwards
    Unhappy

    Nice

    So the police turn up, see that the phone call was made by the toddler, and then searched the house anyway. I mean, did they even have a warrant?

    I can understand why so many people think the police are arseholes. "Oh, we're in a house, we might as well search it." Talk about a fishing trip.

    Mind you, 500 plants can't be easy to hide. They could probably smell them from the front door.

  4. Anonymous John
    Happy

    On a similar theme

    "Woman arrested after child gives away hiding spot"

    http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090119/D95QEH2G0.html

  5. Daniel
    Alert

    poor fellow

    Rule for future pot growers... unplug the phone before letting your kid play with it...

  6. Stuza

    Maybe there was someone kidnapped?

    Maybe they have to assume the person making the call had been cutshort by kidnappers and so have to search the house in case the call maker is now tied up somewhere in the house?

  7. Joe K

    500 plants?!?

    Exactly how big is this friggin house?!

  8. Bad Pritt

    Maybe...

    Maybe it's procedure to quickly search a house after a 911 call was made from it and the resident denies. After all, he could have someone locked up in the basement who managed to make a call but couldn't speak. Yes, I watch too much telly.

  9. Bassey

    Just a guess

    To those wondering on what grounds they searched the house, might I suggest that a pot-head with a toddler who was completely unaware his infant had been playing with a phone, for some period of time, tends to arouse reasonable suspicion of neglect, if nothing else. I think it would be neglectful for them not to have had a look around to make sure the kid was safe.

    After all, it must have been a fair few minutes between the first phone call, them trying to call back, turning up, they had been knocking (no answer), then they break in? You've got to be looking at the best part of 15mins and the guy was unaware of anything?

    I know you like to see black helicopters around every corner but, come on!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    search of the property

    they did that because they received a call and they had to conform that it is true that "nothing is the matter." They have no reason to believe that the man didn't _hide_ the original caller somewhere.

    I believe that in some cases if you call 911 (999, 112) and just hang-up, they will first call you back. If you do _NOT_ pick-up, they will send someone over and they _WILL_ take a look around the place and make sure that it is a _false_ alarm.

    Who knows, you might have kidnapped someone and _that_ person is the one who made the call while you (the house owner) insist that everything is fine.

    IT angle? the kid is going to be the next BOFH

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I guess that...

    ...if he grows it he smokes it so the house probably reeked of weed, giving the police more than enough reason to search (albeit without a warrant, but I doubt he could've moved 500 plants in the time it would've taken them to obtain one).

  12. Gavin Jamie
    Coat

    Searching the Property

    I suspect that there is a policy of having a look around as they have watched those films where the hero(ine) calls 911,999,112,etc but the villain pulls the phone out of the wall then ties them up in the basement. Passes phone to toddler and looks innocent when the cops turn up.

    Its got to be better they search than the hero having to pretend to seduce the villain and then stabbing them with an improvised weapon made out of a shelf bracket. If nothing else we can all get out of the cinema half an hour earlier.

  13. Dominic Kua
    Thumb Up

    Why search?

    Simple really, if someone's just been killed as they called the police, does the killer only need an infant and a prop to get away with it?

    I'm no great fan of the police, but they have excellent reasons to check that when an emergency call is made that they're investigating the event properly.

    Although if they were as apathetic as people here would like, it would make an excellent crime thriller plot. "Murderer misleads police by staying at the scene of the crime and using a baby"

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Nooooo what a waste

    Smoking hot news :D. Wish i was one of those coppers i'd be getting my credit crunch bonus in right now.

  15. mike2R

    Re: Nice

    If it was a "a 500-plant marijuana grow-op", I would imagine they had probable cause from long before the door opened. Cannabis plants are not exactly odourless.

  16. Geoff
    Coat

    (sorry)

    what a dope

  17. Iain

    Good reason

    If I had been kidnapped and tied up in a basement but had managed to make a quick call to the police I would be very unhappy if my kidnapper fobbed them off successfully with a 'baby-did-it' story.

  18. Mark Menzies
    Thumb Up

    So the police searched the house.....

    ...So what!!!

    The guy had 500 illegal plants in there. 1 criminal arrested. Job done. Lets have a few more.

    At a guess though, I would say that the smell was rather suspicious as well as the guy acting very cagey (well, if I had 500 plants and the coppers were there, I would be a tad anxious too).

    We don't get the full picture in small articles like this, cos basically, we don't need em. Its a quaint story and an advertisement for child locks on phones when you have a nipper (and something illegal in yer house).

    Good stuff reg

  19. james
    Go

    they have to search ...

    My nipper did the same thing recently.

    If a suspicious call is recieved the police are obliged to make sure you are not holding somebody against their will/beating up the mrs etc etc so a cursory search is required. Its thier job. Still by the time they got to mine the bairn had hung up the phone and was sitting on the potty... they didn't stay long.

  20. Niall

    Police Search

    Police: Did you make an 999 call?

    Mr Killer: No.

    Police: Ok, have a nice day.

    Of course they searched the house.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    No brainer...

    With that many plants, yes, they'd have smelt it very quickly on entering the property. Searching in this instance wouldn't mean the usual 'no stone unturned' that a warrant is required for, this would just be a case of opening the right door.

    Honestly, I wouldn't know how strongly these plants would smell from personal experience... really officer... er, I'll get me coat...

  22. Rob Beard
    Thumb Up

    Toddlers 101

    First rule of thumb if you have a cordless phone and a toddler, either keep it out of the way or disconnect the bloody thing.

    My daughter who is 2 1/2 has a habbit of grabbing our cordless. As we can't really put it out the way without putting in extra cables we just leave it disconnected. The batteries are on their last legs anyway and we generally use our mobiles.

    After all, a BT line is just for broadband right? ;-)

    Rob

  23. Richard
    Unhappy

    Serious side

    The serious side to this is that he'll get a large fine or go to prison and his kid will be taken away from him.

    All because he was _gardening_.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Nancy Botwin

    Fail, that is why you need to marry someone from the RCMP

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Legitimate excuse for search

    Seriously, I don't like the prohibition laws either, but 500 plants? They must have smelt it half-a-mile away. I hate to say it, but it's probably a fair cop. Guv.

  26. Christoph

    @ Eddie Edwards, Anthony Mark

    It might be that it's standard procedure, in case someone else is in the house (kidnapped? rape victim?), tried to phone for help, and had the phone taken away from them.

    Unlikely, but might be on their list to check just in case.

    Can you imagine the furor if the victim was found later after the cops had been in the house but left again without searching?

  27. Marvin the Martian
    Stop

    Warrant? What warrant?

    Why are commentors nagging about search warrants? If you let the police in, they are in; if you refuse, they need the warrant. If they have an emergency mandate (911call) to enter, again they are in.

    Or are you argueing the law should be changed and emergency should turn a blind eye to absolutely everything except what coincides with the text on a paper report? "Sorry ma'am, we got a report of no. 110 on fire, so we can't help you at no. 112 unless you file a report"?

  28. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Guess what baby....

    Wants to be when her grows up:

    A) Traffic Warden

    B) Traffic Copper

    They'd both shop their dear old Dad

    PS Don't see anything about information testicology here ?

  29. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: No brainer...

    Smell? Depends where it is, though. I would have thought he'd have them up in the attic/down in basement with all the necessary hydroponic wotnots. The panic in his eyes would probably be more of a signal, and anyway as many have pointed out the cops would do a search as a matter of routine in the circs.

    Lots of people making same points here by the way so I'm nixing a few just so it's only slightly repetitive and not endlessly so.

  30. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Warrant? What warrant?

    Heh, yes, I was going to say there's been a fair bit of jerking of the knee here with regards the FASCIST PIGS. They really were just doing their job this time.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Depending on the country

    Not every country is like the US where the police need a warrant for any search regardless of the reason. In countries whose law system is similar to English common law, the police have the right to enter buildings under certain circumstances without a warrant. I don't know the details of the law, but this would have to be one of those cases, otherwise the whole thing would get thrown out of court straight away. It is one of the reasons you have the enforcement arm and judiciary strictly separate - it means it's harder for the police to break the law and get away with it.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    giving power to search....

    think guys, think!

    Maybe a copper (or mounty) made the 911, using a device to fake the caller ID.... then his mates have a valid reason to search the house which is (unofficially) known to be a dope plantation?!

  33. Paul Bruneau
    IT Angle

    Lesson for today

    Is that in Canada, an accidental 911 call results in "a quick search of the house"

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    useful alternative to a warrant

    Cops turn up on the doorstep saying we've had a 999 call from here, we're going to have a look round.

    Saves no end of paper work

    Of course, this would never happen.

  35. Jim Westrich

    Ricky!

    Ricky should never have let little Randy have the phone.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re useful alternative to a warrant

    > Cops turn up on the doorstep saying we've had a 999 call from here, we're going to have a look round.

    > Saves no end of paper work

    > Of course, this would never happen.

    Errmmm.... what about when the phone company says that no such call was ever made...?

  37. Robert Moore
    Thumb Up

    A few Canadian facts

    RCMP are required by procedure to search any residence in the event of an aborted 911 call.

    There was a case recently where this procedure was not followed, a woman died, and a police dispatcher was terminated.

    Canadian police work with local power companies to find grow ops by looking for houses using far more power than their neighbours.

    White Rock is a fairly expensive area, with large houses over 3000 Sq feet is not uncommon.

    BC pot is some of the best in the world... Or so I am told.

    Possession is technically illegal, but is almost never charged.

    There are many places where you will regularly smell people smoking pot, but the cops really don't seem to care.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My dogs dialled 999 once...

    But the police didn't find the weed ;)

  39. Paul Donnelly

    Randy!

    Nahh, its bound to have been Conky shopping him again...

  40. Huw Davies
    Joke

    @Robert Moore

    "There was a case recently where this procedure was not followed, a woman died, and a police dispatcher was terminated."

    That's a bit harsh. Surely they could have sacked them instead...

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    @ 500 plants?!?

    Square root of 500 will tell you that one halfway decent-sized room should be way sufficient, just roughly 23 rows of 22 pots each. Maybe, despite the locale, he was growing some dwarfish Mexican weed instead of the sky high Canadian cash crop, takes even less space.

    Dude, where's my phone?!

  42. ratfox
    Coat

    marijuana is illegal in BC?

    Who would've thought?

    Mine's the one with the ticket to Victoria in the pocket

  43. This post has been deleted by its author

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Robert Moore

    "There was a case recently where this procedure was not followed, a woman died, and a police dispatcher was terminated."

    Well, I suppose it makes a change from the NZ proceedure, where on one occassion the Police response to a 111 call from a distressed female was to send a taxi - the caller has never been seen since, dead or alive.

  45. Bug

    But Sarah...

    Do FACIST PIGS wear two pairs of SPECIAL JACKBOOTS on their LITTLE TROTTERS?

    I think we should be told.

  46. Loki

    Second house then?

    From the article i guess this is a second house and not the family home as the mother 'apparently' was not aware of the growth.

    On the smell topic, it is possible to hide. A few people i have known over the years kept plants in their cellar and no smell in the house... a few though did smoke weed in the house though so this would be a dead giveaway of them being pot smokers anyway... takes days and open windows to get rid of the smell... opening the windows just as the cops arrive isnt going to help.

  47. Astarte

    ´Baby's first words . . .

    .

    'I shot the sheriff'

    or

    'I shopped the chief', perhaps?

  48. Arnold Layne
    Happy

    @Loki and Robert Moore

    Loki: "From the article i guess this is a second house and not the family home as the mother 'apparently' was not aware of the growth"

    Er, possibly yes if they were a nice 1950's style nuclear family. In the fractured modern world they're probably separated (hell they may not have been a couple for much more than the time it took to conceive) and loathe to visit each other .

    Robert Moore: "There was a case recently where this procedure was not followed, a woman died, and a police dispatcher was terminated"

    With extreme prejudice? Harsh, but fair.

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