new "secret techniques" to bust growers?

[Ligyron]

Behind every piece of good detective work is a good informant . . .

With budget cuts and a freeze on most (if not all) new hiring -- behind every local narco squad, at least those that are still fully staffed and hope to remain so, would be a good PR/BS campaign like the one OP described.

FLIR is expensive, illegal and largely impractical since one decent-sized saltwater aquarium with hard corals can easily produce the same footprint as a 1K grow: both IR & electrical-wise -- and it's not unusual for some folks to have two or three tanks if they're into that sorta thing.

Both obsessions employ much of the same type equipment too: lights, chillers, pumps, etc. all of which are often ordered over the internet, out-of-state, from companies that cater to both worlds. I'm not sure how local leo can pull up info on orders in another state or what percentage there would be in undercover cops from that state calling your local leo to report you.

Prolly not much

 

[brandon.]

They'll need to put their technique on paper for the judge on the search warrant (as far as I know). If someone can pull the court papers, you can probably find out.

 

[Rednick]

Scare tactics. They get to seize all suspected illegal funds and such. So if they were really making money, they wouldn't be telling you about it.

Snitching is most likely what is happening.
That or someone from Power and Light is letting the power usage slip to the Sheriffs office.
Cause you don't have smart meters in KC.
Or, they are tracing the IP address.

Or, just maybe the OC in the area is out to keep you all from growing.

If one were to be worried about power usage, they would most likely mimic the Canucks with flip-flop timers.

I seriously doubt that the County Sheriff has some new tech out there. Overland Park is a huge fucking area. There is no way they could cruise around in a car with a sniffing dog.

But if you are scared, then sober up for a few days and look objectively at your situation from the outside.

Now, most of this shit is applicable to so many 'normal' houses that it is quite ridiculous.
But, a good idea may pop out of it.
http://www.chilliwack.com/main/page.cfm?id=1075
Edit: They have a checklist, I just can't find it. But it is full of stupid shit like: is the yard unkept? Is there little activity at the house normally, then for a day a lot of activity? Is there a lot of activity at the house at late hours?

 

[Rednick]

Was just kinda a reality check when I heard that on the radio. Kinda like someone was trying to tell me something, lol.

Just thought I'd put this story out there and get everyone's thoughts. I have to admit I was a bit freaked out about it.

Thanks for calming me down.

Yeah, we all know that feeling. But the more you learn about the 'system' the more you realize that it isn't YOU that they are after.

But they will never pass up the chance to be a media whore and scare the shit out of every closet grower in the vicinity.

 

[Madrus Rose]

i think it is a snitch or someone is peeking at power usage.....

hey "new" pappa

yes ...thought it was simply routine in states like texas or florida
for the utilities companies to work in tandem with the po po (?)
They do have some kind of detection gun any Utilities agent can use
remotely to "see" larger current draws .

Someone put up a map showing the house busts made in just the Orlando area for 2mos a while back , was some rediculously high number (30-35?). This would almost certainly be a Utilitiy snitching...and they were all smaller sized grows. And most growers have talked to in those states always have do smaller grows because of this .

Flir is illegal to use in Cali i believe (?)
(Maybe satelite Flir ?? ...me not know)

Some kind of sophisticated odor/ particle detector, like they use for bombs or biologicals?

Dogs sure are effective , a K9 unit riding around the neighborhoods ...
remember in Oakland the CHP were doing
a K9 training exercise in a hood & the dogs keyed in
one wearhouse which later they raided finding 7000 plants .

(the "training exercise" excuse was pretty convenient )

 

[Rednick]

FLIR is expensive, illegal and largely impractical since one decent-sized saltwater aquarium with hard corals can easily produce the same footprint as a 1K grow: both IR & electrical-wise -- and it's not unusual for some folks to have two or three tanks if they're into that sorta thing.

First time I ever bought a MH 1K was from the Hydro store to use as a light for a 300 gal coral tank.

Fucking coral loved it. Lit up my house like a Christmas tree, too.

 

[Rednick]

how do you know if there is a smart meter? i'm in an old house with only 110 and they have to come and read the meter it has several old style gauges like watch dials.

You don't have a smart meter. But your friggin power company should install a radio transmitter so they don't have to trespass every month.

If you have a Smart Meter, you will know...or at least you should be able to figure it out. If not, put down the pipe for a bit.

http://www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=54354

"Local efforts to build the smart grid also have run awry after Xcel Energy in 2008 launched its SmartGridCity project, which installed more than 20,000 smart meters in Boulder.
The cost of the project ultimately reached nearly $45 million — triple the initial estimate of $15.3 million.
Xcel attributed to overruns in part to its need to build its own fiber-optic communications network to monitor the grid.
While the projects struggled for different reasons, they display a failure on the part of utilities to explain to consumers the benefits and costs of upgrades. "

 

[Yes4Prop215]

damn thats pretty scary....a k-9 riding around in a cop car in oakland could probably find a grow on every block! but they would have a nightmare trying to wade through which properties were just full of stoners and personal grows and which ones were breaking the law....shit in oakland its not uncommong for a big 10k operation to be totally legal by state standards with like a half dozen scripts hanging on the wall.

 

[Danks2005]

Behind every piece of good detective work is a good informant . . .

With budget cuts and a freeze on most (if not all) new hiring -- behind every local narco squad, at least those that are still fully staffed and hope to remain so, would be a good PR/BS campaign like the one OP described.

FLIR is expensive, illegal and largely impractical since one decent-sized saltwater aquarium with hard corals can easily produce the same footprint as a 1K grow: both IR & electrical-wise -- and it's not unusual for some folks to have two or three tanks if they're into that sorta thing.

Both obsessions employ much of the same type equipment too: lights, chillers, pumps, etc. all of which are often ordered over the internet, out-of-state, from companies that cater to both worlds. I'm not sure how local leo can pull up info on orders in another state or what percentage there would be in undercover cops from that state calling your local leo to report you.

Prolly not much

Same 12/12 light schedule too. You don't hear about saltwater reeftank enthusiasts having their doors kicked in. So I don't worry to much about the telltale spike leading them to me. At one time I had 2 reeftanks with a total of 1600w of HIDs plus another 400w in flourescents, all on 12/12.

 

[Tako]

Stir the waters to catch fish.

 

[canadiancracker]

There secret techniques are illegal searches before the actual bust. Thats why its kept secret.

buy yourself a camera security system with motion sensor recording. and cover 360degree view around your property. post up signs saying that you have recorded 24h video surveillence.

if the cops do a sneek and peek and then raid later you can easily get off because of there misconduct.. illegal search..

dont talk on phones even in code. dont talk at home or in your car. illegal wire taps and bugs are common ways the police collect evidence before a raid.

if they cant get you the right way dont doubt that they wont get you illegally.

on america most wanted, for a murderer cocaine trafficer. they set up camera all over his home/stash house. watching inside the house from outside... had audio. gps'd his vehicules. and did sneek and peeks without warrents and admitted it all on amv. and he still got convicted..

becareful. if they want you they will get you.. if they cant you might end up and unsolved homicide.. like 2pac or biggie smalls...

haters are gonna hate. and bullies who arent used to loosing can go a long way to win, and dont rest till they do..

Fuck em, keep on keepin on..

IF YOU CANT DO THE TIME DONT DO THE CRIME.

i

 

[Ajack1024]

Tomatos....

 

[acridlab]

Maybe they're just tuning into a dark AM channel and cruisin the streetz for all the new digi ballasts out there.
I was able to pinpoint my buddy's new house in oc after he got me to the general neighborhood.
Suffice it to say he's back to mag ballasts.

this is my bet,, cheap digis, especially with improper ground. u can cruise the streets with short wave radios or certain regular a.m radio and u can pinpoint every grow house…rip off artists around here do it all day..get a a.m station close to ur ballasts, if it squeltches more than 5 feet away, i would invest in better equipment or go back to magnetic..

 

[acridlab]

also never coil your cords "roll them up and twist tie cuz they're too long" from your ballast to your hoods, that the main culprit for rfi with digitals..

 

[Phatlewtz]

this is my bet,, cheap digis, especially with improper ground. u can cruise the streets with short wave radios or certain regular a.m radio and u can pinpoint every grow house…rip off artists around here do it all day..get a a.m station close to ur ballasts, if it squeltches more than 5 feet away, i would invest in better equipment or go back to magnetic..

This is easily the best non grow specific advice I have ever seen on any site. Everyone should always take a step back and really evaluate their gardens security.. I generally try and think with the the mindset of some moron who's been up for several days straight looking to hit a lick and be up for days 8, 9, and 10...

 

[the gnome]

also never coil your cords "roll them up and twist tie cuz they're too long" from your ballast to your hoods, that the main culprit for rfi with digitals..

what do you mean by coil and roll the cords?
I'm trying to mentally picture what the difference is?

 

[acridlab]

no difference.. i was trying to explain what i meant about coiling cords in case someone didn't get what i was trying to say.. basically keep your cords straight, no loops, and don't let them cross over each other if possible.. some people recommend ferrite clamps, but then i spoke with a tek that advised against that,, said something about the magnets screw up the pulse and stress ur bulbs,,or some electrician mumbo jumbo.. I'm always medicated, hard to retain shit sometimes..

 

[johnnybravo]

Urban myths!

 

[qupee]

They'll need to put their technique on paper for the judge on the search warrant (as far as I know). If someone can pull the court papers, you can probably find out.

As long as this thread came up, thought I'd comment on this.

They do not have to detail their technique to get a warrant. There's a commonly used technique called parallel construction. They only need to justify the warrant, they are under no obligation to provide all the information that led them to you.

Imagine that perhaps you post a picture of your garden to instagram. Automated systems flag the image as potentially drug related (not too hard for software to guess at what might be a picture of an MJ grow with some image processing).

Some alphabet soup intelligence agency gets notice of this picture and logs into instagram's LEO portal and gets the IP address the photo was posted from. Then they log into the ISP's portal that owns that IP address and look up who had that IP at the time the picture was posted. Might not even need a person to do those steps, that could all be automated too for all I know.

Now they know who you are and where you live. Narc task force scopes you out and schedules the trash company to do a special pickup for you on your next day. Maybe they find something in your trash, maybe they don't. All they have to do is go to a judge and say: 1. We got an anonymous tip so-and-so was growing here. 2. We checked the residence and there was a pungent odor of live marijuana emanating from inside. 3. We found a stem in the trash (which they will happily produce in case you weren't careless enough to do so yourself).

Warrant's issued. You get arrested. Never find out how they really got on your trail. And you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of arguing against that warrant in court.

Given all the news regarding the NSA this year I probably don't even have to try and convince anyone this is a realistic situation. Portals specifically for LEO into widely used services are reality. Automated content processing for criminal activity is reality. Data sharing from the NSA down to local LEO is reality. Parallel construction is reality. Kinda scary

 

[acridlab]

very good point on trash… i knew somebody that was raided like that.. ever since that happened i started burning anything mj related.. plus we have a lot of people scrapping for metal around us,, i don't want any of them figuring out what I'm doing by seeing empty bails of promix, etc in my bin..