Local news/police telling people to look for signs of 'grow operations'

[nightsky]

This last week in a city not too far from here, 6 cops were shot, and one killed, while conducting a surprise raid on a home suspected of having marijuana grow room. There has been a ton of outrage, of course. Now, the police are going on the local news telling people to watch neighbors for signs of illegal grow operations. The signs? Look for florescent tubes, either in the trash, or being brought in from the car. Look for an 'unusual amount or frequency' of bulbs, whatever that means. Also, look for lights coming from rooms that seems to be regular in timing, and that seem out of place, ie bright florescent light from what should be bedroom, etc. Look for signs of unusual indoor gardening, buying lots of pots and dirt, but not using it in the yards, pvc pipe and ventilation tubing, etc, and not hesitate to tip off police or dea. It's your duty as a citizen to lookout for your neighborhood! Blah blah blah.

I grow my plants inside a 'growlab' tent that lets me shut out most of the light. The primary reason I went with this setup was to block the light as it is annoyingly bright. I don't have basement, so my plants are in a spare room. Especially this time of year, the lights are on during time of darkness outside, light will definitely glow through the blinds if I don't black the growlab out.

So anyway, yeah I becoming a bit worried that sometime in the middle of the night, I'm going to wake up to a bunch of trigger happy govt agents storming my house. Plus, they have a documented reputation of shooting first, asking questions later, when it comes to dogs that are present. So I can see them shooting my very barky shih tzu. On top of this, I am armed. Someone comes busting in, yes my first instinct will be to defend myself, especially if it's the middle of the night and I'm woken by surprise.

The local populace has a reputation of being nosy and gossipy, especially among a certain predominant religious group, of which I'm surrounded as I live in an extremely conservative neighborhood. And now with the news blaring out the local police requests to be nosy for this specific stuff in light of the recent shootings..yeah I'm worried. Honest, I thinking about ditching this hobby as I'm becoming so concerned about this. I've read of cases where people have been prosecuted for just having grow equipment that could be used for growing illegal crops, even if no such plants were found.

I cannot be the only one who has had this topic cross their mind. What say you?

 

[31drew31]

If you have nothing to hide, call the police about this and tell them your concerns and offer to show them your set up if the feel its necessary. Then if a nosy neighbor calls your local police they can say they have spoken to you or been to your house and it`s nothing but legal houseplants.

That`s what I would do.

 

[Dexenthes]

Your worries are well warranted, I think. But it's not worth giving up the hobby, IMO. If I recall correctly the dog that was shot by police was not a Shitzu, but rather a large dog of some kind, right?

You're not doing anything wrong! If they come in in the middle of the night and kick your door down and all they find is Nepenthes then you will most likely be able to kick their butts in court and maybe receive a large settlement. Of course, you don't want that to happen in the first place, but the bottom line is, you're doing something you love and there's nothing illegal or wrong about it. For the war on drugs to influence a carnivorous plant hobbyist to give it up is just wrong and shouldn't be allowed to happen.

IMO.

 

[tje25]

Very disturbing!! I to worrie about this... The police around here have the same rep for shooting ppls dogs for silly stupid reasons. They just need to stop wasting tax dollars chasing this stuff and worry more about things that are actually hurting ppl. Just my two cense... I could go on and on about this but I had better not

 

[cpsammich]

if they bust into your house, SUE THEM

 

[Kyle]

I can't imagine suing them would be very successful, but then I am forced to remember the woman that sued McDonald's because her coffee was hot.

I think Drew probably had a pretty logical idea there... while it's still absolutely ridiculous, it beats the hell out of them busting your door down and shooting your dog.

My 0.02, though.

 

[Nepenthesis]

Yeah, this crossed my mind too. Most plant growers fit the illegal-substance-growing suspicion checklist, even if they're just growing things like daises. I'm not too worried because the only people who can see my greenhouse are my neighbors, most of which smoke illegal substances themselves and would be for it.

 

[Cthulhu138]

No cops yet but, several neighbors have confronted me about it. One old lady across the street said she would call the police if I didn't get rid of the stuff immediately , the rest asked me if they could buy some pot. I had to bring them all in and show them what was going on. One guy took a v.f.t home with him instead of the "ounce of kind" he was expecting.

 

[Kyle]

When I moved into this house, I had TWO neighbors come to me in person and straight up ask if I was growing marijuana. >.>;;

And I think I already gave them about as nerdy a talk session as I could muster, so I think they probably believed me when I said, "Nope, just carnivorous plants!" XD

EDIT: LOL, and I thought my two neighbors was out of the ordinary. That's funny, Cthulhu.

 

[droseraguy]

Ditto, call the local PD and invite over the neighbors. Alleviate suspisions and all will be well. There is no reason conservative or not to get up in someones business. That said I don't know the neighborhood but you should know your neighbors well enough to talk to them. Mine have been over and their kids as well. I don't hide the lights although I should. Heck I'm more afaid of the idiots that think they can find something worth breaking in over. Like yourself though, Heaven help the fool that tries.

 

[Kyle]

Yeah, that's a good point too. The cops may well be less threatening than some punk that thinks he's just made an easy grab.

 

[dionae]

I live beside a cop garage. I'm sure they see all kinds of strange lights from my house. I'm not too worried about it though...only thing theyll find here is a good cussing. I have all kinds of flowers and ornamental plants growing all summer though so they probably just think i'm a wierd plant guy...which I am.

 

[Nepenthesis]

For those of you who have been confronted by neighbors and potential customers, what kind of setups do you guys have? Is it just a room with intense lighting that can be seen through the window, or is it just the ordinary greenhouse?

Now you guys are putting the thought in my mind that my greenhouse will be raided by some crackhead thinking he's scoring big on some free illegal substances!

 

[dionae]

Last 4th of July everyone in my family had to go into the greenhouse and look around and half asked if I was growing weed in it.

 

[hazedshaman]

just to be safe i would tell the police that i have a growlab and that they are more then welcome to come check it out before you get a boot through the door and have bacon all over your house leaving greasy fingerprints

 

[nightsky]

When I moved into this house, I had TWO neighbors come to me in person and straight up ask if I was growing marijuana. >.>;;

And I think I already gave them about as nerdy a talk session as I could muster, so I think they probably believed me when I said, "Nope, just carnivorous plants!" XD

EDIT: LOL, and I thought my two neighbors was out of the ordinary. That's funny, Cthulhu.

Yeah, had an internet tech guy out here last week (my internet was having serious issues). My modem is in the same room as the plant tent thingy. Sure enough, he gets all ancy and nervous as soon as he saw it. I told 'dude, relax, nothing illegal, here look inside.' I then explained everything and showed him the different types to hopefully ensure he didn't think I was hiding anything. Still, I was worried.

I thought about calling the police on myself preemptively, but man my inner voice screams that would backfire. The road to ruin is paved with good intentions.

Edit: haha, right while I typed this, one channel ran a teaser commercial for one of their stories. "Urban indoor farms. It's becoming an epidemic. What's growing in your neighbors home? We'll show you the signs to look for". Ugh.

 

[hazedshaman]

Yeh I know lol that's y my gf is always like y r u so secrative wen your not doing anything illegal. Id rather fly through the trees then above them. I deal with the growing weed thing everytime I go to the local farm and garden to buy supplies. The people in there always assume I'm growing weed and everytime I describe to them what I'm doing they get a look on their face like they don't belive me.... I don't really care to be honest with them. In my eyes I grow better things then weed. On another note as for police anyone else notice that our taxes are increasing and their salaries are increasing but they still treat us all like criminals. The whole judical system has completly flipped now its guilty until proven innocent. Like I said b4 fly through the trees not above them.

 

[jack]

So, if you want to grow illegal plants (I do not) then one should grow some plants under lights call cops (neighbors) to let them know you're growing said plants then you should be good to go for the illegal stuff. For some reason that's all I could think about while reading this thread.

 

[LeafKirby]

My friends joke about me growing weed, but its nothing serious.

 

[Kyle]

So, if you want to grow illegal plants (I do not) then one should grow some plants under lights call cops (neighbors) to let them know you're growing said plants then you should be good to go for the illegal stuff. For some reason that's all I could think about while reading this thread.

Errr, I don't think the point was to get the cops off your back, I think the point was to convince them it's unnecessary to kick your door down and shoot your dog. I'd say it's going to take a little more than a few D. capensis and D. muscipula to convince any cop that your only intention is growing CPs. So you'd have to actually be growing a good number of plants in some kind of tent or greenhouse to even convince them you're not a "threat," I'd imagine. Even then, who's to say they wouldn't surprise visit you a few months later? Again, I don't think the point is to be permanently on their whitelist, but to protect your dog's and even you and/or your family's safety and lives (if you were to react to people busting into your house in the middle of the night by defending yourself, thus getting shot).