Pot times

GREEN TEAM FEELING BLUE

Tips are drying up for the Green Team, and frustrated local drug cops are at a loss to explain why.

"It has been frustrating on our part, that's for sure," said city police Det.  Darren Derko of the Green Team, a joint venture between the Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP.

"We survive on that information.  We don't need a whole lot, but we need it to be pointed in the right direction."

EPS Det.  Clayton Sach said the six-man unit once got six or seven good tips a week.  Now it's down to two or three.

Police say there are still plenty of marijuana grow-ops in the city, but an exact figure is difficult to guesstimate.

"It's like asking how many speeders there are out there," Sach said.

A dope dealer told the Sun yesterday that there's still a good supply of weed on the street.  "Everything's stat-quo," the dealer said.

Green Team members have several theories on what the problem is, including smarter growers and recent big busts of major players.

But they all agree things slowed down right after James Roszko, 46, gunned down four RCMP officers before killing himself on a farm near Mayerthorpe on March 3.

Roszko had a small grow-op on the farm, stirring up a backlash against pot producers.

RCMP Cpl.  Lorne Adamitz said the team thought the murders would prompt more tips.

"But as a consequence, the opposite has happened, and we don't really know how to explain it," said Adamitz.

The team met with members of a northern Alberta citizens' Rural Crime Watch group about a month after the murders, Adamitz said.

"There was some fear or concern of retaliation ( if they tipped police on grow-ops )."

But all tips remain anonymous, Adamitz said.

The Green Team has been more proactive lately, talking to banks, real estate boards and other businesses and community organizations, telling them what to look for, Adamitz said.

But some of the team's success may have prompted the dry spell.

"We've taken down individuals who had been upper-level organized-crime figures," Adamitz said.

SIDEBAR

Telltale signs of a grow-op

Clues to a possible marijuana grow operation in your neighbourhood include the following:

- - Residents rarely home, or show up only briefly.

- - Strange visitors come and go at strange hours.

- - A skunk-like or rotting-cabbage smell emanates from the house.

- - House often modified, with windows covered with dark plastic.

- - Extreme humidity inside may be seen on windows.

If you think you live near a grow operation, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.