Police raid home because of "too much electricity"

[mastersmurfie]

just saw this:

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=38233&u_id=31509

"When police noticed the family was spending $250 to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home."

what's the world coming to? I remember growing up that our electric bill was always almost that "high" because the house we lived in was old and not well insulated...

just a thought

mastersmurfie

[indolikaa]

just saw this:

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=38233&u_id=31509

"When police noticed the family was spending $250 to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home."

what's the world coming to? I remember growing up that our electric bill was always almost that "high" because the house we lived in was old and not well insulated...

just a thought

mastersmurfie

Interesting.


I'm looking at my energy usage for last summer. Comparing the peak daytime temperature (high 90's to low 100's) versus what it cost to keep my house at 72° during the day, I think maybe I should turn myself in.

[VCDHunter]

just saw this:

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=38233&u_id=31509

"When police noticed the family was spending $250 to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home."

mastersmurfie

More importantly - how did the police know ? What, did the electricity company report them for being their best customer ?

[mastersmurfie]

Kinda wondered that myself...what, do the police have a special task force for electricity?

I can see it now:

Law & Order: SEU (Special Electricity Unit)

or

ECSI (Electrical Crime Scene Investigation)

[hhhhbk]

that is not that high a bill
$3000 a year under £2000
at university were on an electricity meter
5 people 8 computers on 24-7 and all heating is electric fan heaters
and our bill will come to about £2000 in total to cover 3 10 week terms
we are in the uk where it is colder but i reckon we beat their bills by 50% per month
a kilowatt hour is £0.07 in the uk
is it cheaper in the US?

[mastersmurfie]

a kilowatt hour is £0.07 in the uk
is it cheaper in the US?

wasn't sure what I actually paid, so I went to check:

Rate Based on Monthly Meter Readings

Summer Rate (Applicable during 4 monthly billing
periods of June through September)

Customer Charge - per month $7.25
Energy Charge - per kWh 7.64¢

Winter Rate (Applicable during 8 monthly billing
periods of October through May)
Customer Charge - per month $7.25
Energy Charge - per kWh First 750 kWh 5.42¢ Over 750 kWh 3.66¢

Seems like it's about the same...give or take a few cents depending on the time of year...sheesh!! What a rip-off!!!

just a thought

mastersmurfie

[indolikaa]

7¢ ?!

[hhhhbk]

Rate Based on Monthly Meter Readings

Summer Rate (Applicable during 4 monthly billing
periods of June through September)

Customer Charge - per month $7.25
Energy Charge - per kWh 7.64¢

Winter Rate (Applicable during 8 monthly billing
periods of October through May)
Customer Charge - per month $7.25
Energy Charge - per kWh First 750 kWh 5.42¢ Over 750 kWh 3.66¢

strange that it alters so its cheaper in winter
also your electricity is approx half the price of ours
so i guess $300 per month is a lot of electricity
especially with them living in a place like california which is so much warmer than the UK

still raiding their home for this seems strange
it is also weird that it has been publicised as now any drug growers will start getting generators so as not to be detected
i bet whoever called for a warrant feels like a right jackass now that hes been busted down to traffic duty!

[Roundabout]

I thought they were just flying over neighborhoods with infrared sensors pointed at homes, looking for "hot spots". Saw that a while back on one of the newsmagazine shows, and it looked like it worked pretty well, unless the growing area was underground.

Kinda suspicious in a residential area to have this big glowing red area in the garage area show up on their weed-o-scope.

I didn't think they needed electricity spies, but probably they were tipped off by the electric company for using more 'lectric than their neighbors. But if they were smart they would've flown over the area and checked it out first.

Reminds me of that time (back in the 1980's) the LAPD drove their tank (yes, tank - anyone remember that anti-drug "weapon"?) through someone's house that was suspected of being a crack house. Destroyed the home completely and scared the living piss out of the inhabitants. They later discovered they had the wrong address. Oops. Sorry. Don't mind us, just passing thru...

[hhhhbk]

Reminds me of that time (back in the 1980's) the LAPD drove their tank (yes, tank - anyone remember that anti-drug "weapon"?) through someone's house that was suspected of being a crack house. Destroyed the home completely and scared the living piss out of the inhabitants. They later discovered they had the wrong address. Oops. Sorry. Don't mind us, just passing thru...


http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n450/a05.html?119

would love to see the video of the chief of police trying to explain this

heres another example
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/05/264075.shtml

amazed if an electricity company would report someone for using too much electricity if they are paying for it

id expect tip offs from other people in the neighbourhood to be a better reason for raiding homes

[raxitpatel]

that's funny, I used to get 90 bucks for just using tv and lights since I didn't stay in much, ofcourse used some heater / air condition.

[jeex]

I thought they were just flying over neighborhoods with infrared sensors pointed at homes, looking for "hot spots". Saw that a while back on one of the newsmagazine shows, and it looked like it worked pretty well, unless the growing area was underground.

anti-detection foil is very easy to install and it works. although, i think here in the US flying over homes and looking for "hot spots" is considered an invasion of privacy or unreasonable search... maybe not anymore, since the patriot act.

[teegee420]

I've read about this kind of thing before. Usually what tips off the electric company is sudden spikes in usage. If you go from paying $50 one month to $300 in the next several months they're likely to be s little suspicious. Why they've decided to venture into law enforcement is beyond me. The phone company doesn't give a **** if you pay $1000 a month for phone sex. They just want their check.

[glockjs]

I thought they were just flying over neighborhoods with infrared sensors pointed at homes, looking for "hot spots". Saw that a while back on one of the newsmagazine shows, and it looked like it worked pretty well, unless the growing area was underground.

tomato plants, every single one of em are tomato plants...i've spoken too much

[hech54]

I think I'm also pretty safe in saying that the owners of the house were probably no strangers to the police in the first place. I grew up with cops and they are some of the most paranoid people on the planet. Most cops have the exact opposite opinion of the law. They (though never spoken out loud) have the "guilty until proven innocent" mentality and believe me I have absolutely NO problem with that whatsoever. Repeat offenders need to be harrassed occasionally just for the hell of it....and if time permits. The old "beat cops" did exactly that on a daily basis...this is just an example of the new "High Tech Beat Cop".
If a written apology is what they want and they did nothing wrong....give them one....and send copies of that letter to their sons, daughters, husband or wife who is in jail for drug offenses....

[Roundabout]

anti-detection foil is very easy to install and it works.

Hmmm, seems to know a lot about it, anyone checked Jeex's electric bill lately?

[adam]

although, i think here in the US flying over homes and looking for "hot spots" is considered an invasion of privacy or unreasonable search... maybe not anymore, since the patriot act.

Since a 2001 Supreme Court case, its considered a "search," which means that you can only do it if you get a warrant first.

[BJ_M]

most grow operations bypass the meter anyway ...

[devinemi83]

This just stinks of big brother. I mean come on, the light company sees you use alot or "too much" power and the call the POLICE? What the hell? Whats next, your ISP call the MPAA and RIAA is they see you suddenly downloading alot more than normal because downloading more than say 20MB a day is obviously a person downloading illegal stuff? Only to find out you really dig all flavors of linux.

I guess also that if I suddenly use more gas than normal I must be cooking meth in my bedroom.


Damn, I am a republican and think this crosses the line.

[jeex]

This just stinks of big brother. I mean come on, the light company sees you use alot or "too much" power and the call the POLICE? What the hell? Whats next, your ISP call the MPAA and RIAA is they see you suddenly downloading alot more than normal because downloading more than say 20MB a day is obviously a person downloading illegal stuff? Only to find out you really dig all flavors of linux.

I guess also that if I suddenly use more gas than normal I must be cooking meth in my bedroom.


Damn, I am a republican and think this crosses the line.

oh my, an admission

there is a 50/50 possibility its going to get worse, alot worse.

[mrtristan]

I'm sure you'll have the same opinion when a cop kicks the shit out of you for nothing. After all, you're gulity until proven innocent, right?

I think I'm also pretty safe in saying that the owners of the house were probably no strangers to the police in the first place. I grew up with cops and they are some of the most paranoid people on the planet. Most cops have the exact opposite opinion of the law. They (though never spoken out loud) have the "guilty until proven innocent" mentality and believe me I have absolutely NO problem with that whatsoever. Repeat offenders need to be harrassed occasionally just for the hell of it....and if time permits. The old "beat cops" did exactly that on a daily basis...this is just an example of the new "High Tech Beat Cop".
If a written apology is what they want and they did nothing wrong....give them one....and send copies of that letter to their sons, daughters, husband or wife who is in jail for drug offenses....

[hech54]

I've never allowed myself to get into a situation where a cop feels the need to kick the shit out of me. I'm no angel but I'm also not stupid enough to try to mess with someone with the mentality of a cop WITH a gun and alot of training on exactly how to kick my ass.
Like I said...I grew up with those guys. For the most part the only ones who get the shit kicked out of them are the one who mouth off and act like tough guys.

[lordsmurf]

What gets me is that my college elec bills used to be $250-300 a month. Cable, stereo, computers, Internet ... all with multiple roommates, letting friends wash clothes at our place, etc...

I'm sure the first month we moved in caused a HUGE spike from the old owners.

This is one of those really DUMB cop things.

[Roundabout]

Whats next, your ISP call the MPAA and RIAA is they see you suddenly downloading alot more than normal because downloading more than say 20MB a day is obviously a person downloading illegal stuff?

That's exactly what I expect will happen at some point, possibly sooner than later. Just as they presume using more than a "normal" amount of electricity is cause for suspicion, so too would be using more than a "normal" amount of bandwidth. That's why encrypted P2P is necessary, to put a stop to their snooping about just what you are or are not doing. The day will come that people will laugh about when things were downloaded "in the clear".

They already want to be able to wiretap VoIP networks, and it's a given that this will happen. I think I read the other day that one of those networks already gave access to the govt. without even waiting for the requirement that they do so.

The only reason the ISP's have resisted snooping by the **AA's is because their customer base will evaporate as soon as they start turning in their customers en masse for "illegal downloading". Sayonara to the $50.00/month income stream from all those people. Who is going to pay $50.00 a month for e-mail?

It won't end there, be sure. There's almost nothing they can't track these days for what they consider "abnormal activity". Your credit card company tracks your usage patterns and if they detect activity that they consider abnormal, they just shut the card off. Never mind if you are in Timbuktu and can't reach them to explain what your situation is. I've had that happen to me more than once.

I don't use my Discover card much at all, and they sent me an offer one day giving me $25.00 if I use the card three times during the month. I started using it and charged three things in one day (not what I would call excessive activity). They shut the card off on the third transaction, when I was at the grocery store with a large order (about $40.00). I finally had to use another card to complete the transaction. I wasn't happy about it at all, they tell me to use the card and even promise cash if I do - then when I did, they cut me off! I still got the $25.00 bonus, but I don't use that card at all anymore.

Just goes to show, even in everyday transactions, you are being monitored for just about everything you do. Scary. Big brother really is watching, and constantly.

[gmatov]

Welcome to the club, boys and girls.

Remember, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they AREN'T out to get you.

Remember TIPS, where the Ashcroft Justice Dept wanted to turn 100,000 truckdrivers, half a million meter readers, mailmen, pizza delivery boys into the equivalent of the "Good NAZI", who would report his own mother for saying something against the regime?

Remember the thread where the gov agents came to the house after the delivery guy reported he had a "Lot" of computer equipment?

We're already well on the way to a police state, what with cameras all over the place taking your picture, using facial recognition software to find "bad guys" at the entrance to Superbowls and the like.

Your cellphone beeps at the towers every few seconds to tell the system where you are. Your glitzy new GM vehicle tells OnStar where you are every second that the ignition is on, and just possibly when it is off.

I don't think I want the local cops, or the Feds to know what I do at every moment of my life.

Remember when refusing a field sobriety test was an automatic 1 year suspension of your DL, on top of what the judge sentenced?

Remember reading within the last month of the court ruling that 4 cops wrestling the suspected DUI onto a gurney and holding him still while a nurse drew blood, was a perfectly legitimate police procedure?

Goddamn, if that wasn't an "Unlawful Search and Seizure"!!!

But, then, the Constitution is a "living" document, we can do what we want with it, it doesn't really mean what it says, it means what WE say it says.

Keep electing pols who think that way, dumb ones, meaning people of average mentality, because that is what they are forcing us to grow in the schools, today.

A dumb population is just so damn much easier to control.

Boys and girls, you ain't seen nothing, yet. They are going to impose on you a hell of a lot more than they did on me.

Shades of "Gattaca".

Cheers,

George

I don't think I hi-jacked this thread, it has leaned this way from about the 5th post.