[monkeyman]

Hey,
So I am in what is most likely a paranoid situation, but I don't know where to go from here. I am ready for the "if you're this paranoid maybe you don't have it in you to grow" comments and all of that. I just wanted to run my situation by some people and get some thoughts before I do something rash.

A few weeks back I was on my first grow when I did something unbelievably stupid. My closet was getting terribly hot, like 95 degree hot, because I forgot to turn a fan on and thus, without much thought, I opened the closet doors (wth the light on) and opened my shades ever so slightly. When the shades are down there is no air flow into the apartment and things heat up quick.

My girlfriend and I were chillin' in the bedroom watching a movie (it was like 2am) when I saw out of the corner of my eye a police car go rolling by, very slowly. I am in a one bedroom apartment, my grow closet was in my living room in the back. This freaked me out, not so much because of the cop but because of what it meant.

Our apartment is on the ground floor, probably about 100 yards from the street. A very small town, with probably only a handful of cops. Almost every night since we moved in here I have witnessed a cop driving very slowly by the street behind our apartment, the one which faces the living room. If we were seeing him it meant he had just driven by our living room.

I freaked. I got in my car almost right away, went outside and found the cop. He was sitting a couple of buildings down (same apartment complex) in a parking spot. A couple seconds later, he pulled out and continued on his way. I followed him for a minute and it looked like he was continuing on his rounds.

I went home, pulled the plants, flushed them and planted tomato seeds into the grow set up. Waited a couple of weeks, bought myself a cab and then started a new grow. Now the paranoia is starting to creep back big time. After it happened I went outside and looked in from the street trying to see what he would have. The answer was not much. He might have seen a bright light if he was looking carefully but I don't know. My girlfriend looked too and said there was nothign to worry about, but I don't think we can really know.

I've been watching for the police to drive by lately and I've been up an observant enough to catch them twice. What has me most spooked was tonight. I watched the cop drive by and he seemd to go extra slow past my apartment. After I moved into the cab I decided to give them a show in case they had seen something. So i cleaned out the closet and made it look normal, then I turned all the lights on in the room and kept the shades wide open. My hope is that they'll see the area is clean (its very hard to see the cab, it looks like just part of the wall) and assume they were seeing things that night.

He may have just been being a peeping tom tonight. It may just be my imagination or paranoia that has me thinking he was driving slower then usual. I followed him outside tonight as soon as he drove by. This time he didn't drive by the front of my building at all nor did he stop in the apartment complex like the other guy did. He just kept on driving by and continuing on with the rest of his rounds.

I dont' really know what to do at the moment. Part of me is saying that it is better to be safe then sorry but the other part is saying I am getting scared over nothing. Is there any way to find out if you're being watched? Any signs to look for?

Sorry for such a long post, I know that I have posted a number of paranoid threads recently and I am sorry for that too. I just have no one else to talk to about this and needed some opinions.

[tbc OG]

Hahaha, man I know you said you don't want to hear the "if your so paranoid you shouldn't be growing"...and I wasn't planning on saying that....but dude...ummm maybe you are just a bit too paranoid?

Alright, so even if the cops drive by and they see a closet door or a cab or something with a birght light coming from it, they cannot do shit. Yes, they can start monitoring you, but they can't just come in and search.

This is why its so so so important to cover up all of your bases. Don't throw out anything pot related at all. Not even a little bit of resin on a paper clip or something. Throw all of that stuff out somewhere far away from the residence and make sure you arent followed.

No odor, never let there be a visual of the plants, etc... If they can't get any more evidence than a bright light, they cant do anything.

Now I do see one major security flaw....the girlfriend. It sounds like you live with her so I know its not exactly something you can hide from her...but remember, you can never read someones mind. You may think you can trust her, but how do you really know?

What if you get in a fight and she leaves you? What if she has a big mouth and talks to her friends? What if she makes a mistake by throwing out some evidence?

Most people are not busted from cops driving by and seeing a light....but instead they are busted by a rat or someone with a big mouth...

Maybe you have more to worry about than the cop thats just doing his daily job.

[macster]

Chill buddy, If something is to happen it would have by now.Are you states or Canada ?

[pieceofmyheart]

I have been told I suffer from an extreme lack of paranoia so coming from me, I don't know how much this worth.

But man, you are very paranoid. Do the cops have any reason to suspect you for anything?
If not, then you should chill out.

[monkeyman]

I live in the states. I think tomorrow I am going to go stake out the police station tomorrow and get pictures of the cars in the parking lot. That is if i can do it without being obvious. Hopefully get the squad cars, see what the unmarked ones look like and finally the cops personal cars.

Today was marked with three weird things. First, I saw a Lincoln with a radio antenna on its rear pull up to the building dumpster and go through the trash. I lit a cigerette and walked over to the dumpster like I was causlaly walking around. She took a bag of cans out and then left.

The second thing was I saw a few minutes ago a pick up truck make two loops around the back of my apartment. I went out, again wtih my smokes, and found the guy had parked. He then walked around the back of my building down the street which is where I lost him because I wanted to run inside and close the window so he wouldn't hear any fan noises. When I went outside again his car was still there. I looked inside and dind't see anything cop like. Then I saw a cop car going around the back of my buildign (while i was investigating pick up guy) and this time he went by real fast. The thing that worries me about this is that I had my shades down because of pick up guy so my fucked up paranoid reasoning adds up to him not being able to see in my apartment so there is no reason to go slowly.

Sigh, I know this is crazy and paranoid. I just can't help but feel weird about all these coincidences.

[monkeyman]

One thing I found amusing was that there might be two other people growing in my building. When i was looking for pickup guy I walked by a couple of my neibhors and two of them had their air conditioning running.

I live in New England, its been 60 degrees outside all day. Seems odd that they'd be running them. It's what I would do to cool the room if I had one. (We have in wall air conditioner slots)

[monkeyman]

Sigh...
So I pulled the plants tonight. I feel like shit now but I think it was the smart thing to do. The thing that sealed it was when i was staking the cop out tonight, smoking a cig and walking down the street when the cop drove by (I have the times of their nightly drive bys down within 10 minutes now). I watch him stop for 3 - 4 seconds in front of my apartment. He then drove to the end of the street, looped around and drove by the apartment again. Normally they go out another end of the street and continue on their rounds, I've never in the time I have been watching them seen one turn around and go back aain.

It was probably nothing. He probably needed to see something else or maybe he wanted a second look at me. Regardless, it was enough for me. I always have another chance to grow but I don't have a chance to pull down the plants in the event they come through my door.

I have 5 months left in this apartment before I move across the country. My plan is try to and pull off a grow before I have to pack up and leave. I'm thinking of starting again somewhere between the middle of may to the middle of june, that should be enough time to have a crop by the middle of august, right?

In the mean time, I planted some oregeno which I plan to grow in the system. I'll continue to cop watch and and read so that when it comes time to start again I'll be good and ready.

Thanks for the advise.

I meant to write earlier and should've.

Being obviously hyper-vigilant (i.e, coming out the door every time he drives by, staking out THEIR shop in anything resembling obvious ways, etc.) will draw a lot more attention to you than simply being cool but aware. Hard but necessary, man.

Re. the times for your next go at it; depends on style and technique of effort.

Apartments, in my opinion, are bad mojo; can't control the quality or number of your very close neighbors, and many can't guarantee that a landlord won't 'inspect' in your absence (don't know if that applies to you.) Too damned many wild card variables in an apt. complex.

But with all preps, etc., figure that a complete cycle of, 'I'm doin' it,' to 'it's underway,' to 'time to set cycles,' to 'thank God THAT'S over, and that Jah has blessed me' is at LEAST 3-3.5 mos, and more likely 4-4.5 for a novice, unless an immediate 'sea of green' or similar technique is used that would lessen veg times using well-rooted clones, etc. then MAYBE 2 mos, three weeks, to completely wrapped up. But you'd better have racing stripes on your watering can.

regards,

moose eater

Guy,all it takes is for your chick to have been gettin changed or something as they drove by once,you never know..

[pieceofmyheart]

I may not be understanding this but let me see.
1. You see a woman drive up to the dumpster and remove garbage.
2. You see a truck with 2 guys circling your building. One takes off.
3. You see a cop go by.

Is that right? It sounds like the cops may be following or watching some other criminal activity. If I saw that I think I may flag down the next cop and say what is going on? Are there people staking out our apartments to rip people off?

Have you been in trouble? Any reason for the coppers to be spying on you?