INSIDE: Victim of flesh-eating disease finally back at home Pg. 3 T U E S D A Y
July 19, 2011
Local entrepreneur savvy mom 5 one N E W S ,
SPORTS,
WEATHER
&
E N T E R T A I N M E N T chilliwacktimes.com
Must have rocks in their head BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
R
Tyler Olsen/TIMES
Brian Goldstone says his company’s mobile infrared camera can detect marijuana grow operations by detecting unusual ‘heat signatures’ in buildings.
Turning up the heat on bad tenants
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
A
local security company is offering a new weapon in the ongoing battle between marijuana grow operators and Chilliwack landlords. Griffin Investigation & Security Services says it has acquired a new infrared camera that can both detect grow ops and prevent them from taking over, and destroying homes, in the first place. Griffin’s chairman and chief executive officer Brian Goldstone s a i d l a n d l o rd s c a n h i re h i s
Infrared camera can be used by landlords to detect the presence of a marijuana grow op
company to perform monthly heat checks of their homes. The camera takes an image of a structure’s “heat signature.” Grow operations typically require vast amounts of heat and energy and, Goldstone says, are easy to spot using the camera. “The house will actually glow,” said Goldstone, a former RCMP officer. The camera itself is not enough to prove the existence of a grow
operation. For that, an inspection is required. Once an anomalous heat pattern is detected, Goldstone says his company will alert the homeowner, who can either do an inspection him or herself, or hire Griffin to complete that task. Landlords must give tenants notice before an inspection and Goldstone believes that such notice should drive off any grow operators who may have set up shop. But that, he said, is a victory.
He said the camera can also serve as a deterrent. Clients will be given letters—which they can in turn hand potential renters— stating that homes will be subject to monthly heat inspections. “If you’re planning on renting this property to put a grow op in it and you know someone’s going to be coming by this property, you’ll go somewhere else,” he said. See CAMERA, Page 5
ocks thrown from the train b r i d g e ov e r Hi g h w a y 1 between the Young Road underpass and the Yale/Vedder interchange around midnight Saturday caused damage to some vehicles. But something much worse could have happened, according to the passenger of one car struck by a “sheet of rocks” thrown from the bridge by unknown assailants. “The people that do it should know that they could cause an accident or death,” Penny Closen told the Times Monday. “What if we would have swerved and hit a vehicle beside us or if rocks had gone through the windshield?” Closen said she was the passenger in a car driven by her boyfriend heading eastbound on Highway 1 at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday when rocks thrown from the train bridge hit the vehicle and damaged the car’s headlight. Closen said they didn’t know if they had hit something or what happened until they stopped, went back to the scene and saw rocks on the highway. The couple called police who told them another car had its sunroof broken by rocks, and at least one other vehicle was damaged as well. She said RCMP brought the canine unit out but nothing was found. Chilliwack RCMP were unavailable to comment on the incident before theTimes went to press Monday.
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