Cops/feds

Growing marijuana - How to avoid Pot Busts - Part one

not sure if it is here already but, take the time to read this, there's alot of good info.

In any war, intelligence--information about the enemy--lays the groundwork for attack. So, the less police know about growers the better. Law enforcement collects most of the information about the enemy from the enemy. By controlling their activities and surroundings, growers minimize what law enforcement knows about them and the accompanying aftermath. Your activities--where you go, how you go there, what you buy, how you pay for it, who you talk to, what you say--are all things you can control. Your surroundings--your home, growroom, outside property, electrical use, air quality, and visitors--are also parts of your environment that you are able to control.

Never trust anybody, not friends, not family, not even your own children or mother! US conspiracy laws make it possible to jail victims for what they say or what is said about them. America reminds me of Cuba is this regard. A few years ago while visiting the forbidden island, I was amazed to find so many parallels between Cuba and the United States. One of the most striking similarities the two countries share is the fact that what you say or what is said about you can land you in jail!

When it comes to war, you can throw out the Constitution and The Bill of Rights. As federal Judge Jack Shanstrom told the jury before deliberation on the Jodie Israel marijuana-conspiracy case, "an overt act does not itself have to be unlawful. A lawful act may be an element of a conspiracy if it was done for the purpose of carrying out the conspiracy. The government is not required to prove that the defendant personally did one of the overt acts. Once you have decided that the defendant was a member of the conspiracy, the defendant is responsible for what other conspirators said or did to carry out the conspiracy, whether or not the defendant knew what they said or did."

The Judge continued: "A defendant's knowledge of and participation in a conspiracy may be inferred from circumstantial evidence and from evidence of the defendant's action. Acts which seem otherwise innocent, when viewed in the context of the surrounding circumstances, may justify an inference of complicity."

The most dangerous places to visit or telephone include other growrooms, stores that cater to indoor gardeners, and anywhere illegal drugs are being used. Although very tempting, avoid visiting other growrooms. You never know when or how they are being monitored by law enforcement. Your presence at another growroom could tie you to it. Testimony by the grower could implicate you and your grow operation even if they've never been to your garden!

Using your telephone is an obvious no-no! Technology today makes tracking telephone numbers and their locations very easy. Use a pay telephone to make calls when it involves a garden. A case involving a police department that subpoenaed telephone company records of a garden store is currently being heard in federal court. Phone records showed the telephone numbers that were used to call the store. Narcs tracked these numbers down and watched the homes where they were located. More than 1000 arrests resulted! Was the police action legal? The courts are determining that now. Meanwhile, a thousand POWs were taken over a four-year period. Who knows how many police stations are using these same tactics?

When calling or visiting an indoor garden store, never, ever mention marijuana or anything illegal. Do not allude to growing anything illegal. They will be forced to kick you out or hang up immediately.

Stories abound about narcs watching garden-store parking lots and following clients home. You never know when law enforcement will bring the battlefield to the parking lot. Assume they are there. If you must go to a dangerous place, do not go there regularly and do not drive your own car. Take public transportation or go in a car not registered to you or anybody in your family.

Cash tells no tales and leaves no trails. Pay for all purchases relating to the growroom in cash. If you must order something by mail or UPS, pay with a money order that was purchased in cash. Avoid the convenience of using a credit card. Even if it's someone else's, you immediately become a bargaining chip for them if they have any legal problems.

Do not take photos of your garden that show incriminating evidence such as peoples faces, tattoos or anything traceable, such as telephone or license-plate numbers, addresses on a letter, etc. When taking photographs to be developed, do not list your telephone number or address on the receipt. Pay for the photos in cash and do not drive your car to the store.

If you live in the United States, never, never, ever show your growroom to anybody! Do not tell anybody you are growing or have ever grown! Always deny growing. Such information in the hands of someone else renders you powerless. The word "friend" rolls off the tongue so easily until the "friend" is interrogated by law enforcement. Two of the major weapons cops have in their arsenal are deception and intimidation. They lie and intimidate petrified growers to extort information from them.

When a grower is arrested, they are interrogated--not like in the movies, but for real. The interrogation is not over one or two sessions. It often goes on for months. During this time, the accused (without being proved guilty) is coerced into providing information about other growers. Even if they do not know anything about those growers, they are pressured to make up information so the police can use this erroneous information to secure search warrants. Guilt by association has blindsided more than one grower.
A jealous, spiteful or vindictive friend, lover or enemy has complete control over you and your future if they know you are growing. Imagine, just on the whim of a snitch, your life can be changed forever. I met a grower who was cultivating marijuana as medicine to ease the side effects of chemotherapy he was receiving. His vindictive daughter forced him to grow a bigger crop than he needed, sell the excess and pay her the proceeds in exchange for not ratting him out. I could feel the pain in the poor man's words when he told me the story.

Once law enforcement has stumbled across evidence, received solicited evidence from spiteful snitches or coerced evidence from freaked-out friends trying to save themselves, they go out and look for information by subpoena, phone records, electric records, shopping records, etc., and then deploy more sophisticated snoop tactics, most often dogs trained to sniff marijuana.

All that I've got to say is have a lawyer, be prepared. Cops are sneaky, be sneakier. Get a big dog, and have a secured property. Make sure that no one can get in unless you let them in, including cops. Be safe brothers and sisters, and Overgrow the Governments!

For the very paranoid:

Infrared cameras are widely used by law enforcement for border patrol, grow room confirmation, and other surveillance operations. There is legal debate as to whether this technology is intrusive or non-invasive.

Growers fear IR because it?s difficult to ?hide? invisible heat. Protecting yourself against excessive heat emissions is a good defensive measure. This FAQ focuses on masking heat emissions.

What is infrared?
Light and heat energy warm objects, which then re-radiate excess energy. Some of this excess energy is emitted as low-energy infrared. IR is invisible to the naked eye, but can be displayed and measured by specialized cameras.

What does Leo look for?
Officers are trained to look for hot spots on walls and windows, unusually warm foundations, exhaust emissions from vents and chimneys, and warming trends typical of marijuana grow operations. Leo will wait until evening or early morning (when the grow is up to full temperature and the air is cool). He will also look for light leaks, smells and other info at this time.

Note: Leo will try to image a suspected grow-op from all angles, but is only legally able to do so from public property (ie. Sidewalks, roads, public paths, etc).

Note: power companies occasionally image power pole transformers to see if they are abnormally hot (problems), and to source power theft.

Legal implications
(ExpensiveCloset) "A thermal imaging scan does not intrude in any way into the privacy and sanctity of a home?the privacy associated with a home, are (not) threatened by thermal imagery." (US supreme court ruling)

"The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 on June 11 [2001] that police cannot use infrared heat-detecting technology to gather evidence from a private home without a search warrant" High Times, October 2001 (Pg.20)

In Canada, IR is used in the pre-investigation phase. Positive results can then be used to obtain a search warrant.

Will Insulation help?
Conventional insulation will help block IR, but it is probably not enough by itself. A fully insulated wall (R 40) will hold heat much longer than a window (R 2). Concrete is a good conductor of heat; after hours of HID lighting, foundations will become abnormally warm.

Most growers flower at night to take advantage of the naturally cooler air; unfortunately, a warm grow house will radiate lots of thermal energy compared to the cool night air.

How do I mask my heat emissions?
Note: Small grows (under 2000w) would probably not emit enough heat to warrant the effort or expense.

Note: Reducing grow room temperature will reduce heat emissions; however, the grow room will still be warmer than surrounding basement rooms.

This technique creates a false wall to contain cold air. Interlocking rigid foam panels prevent hot grow room air from contacting and warming house walls. Cold air is blown into the gap between the foam and the walls for maximum protection. The wall?s exterior will appear ?cold? to an IR camera, indicating a negative for internal heat.

· "Partial room" (insulate exposed walls only)
· "Room in a room" (entire rooms are insulated)

*Floor. Concrete foundations absorb heat readily. Build a sub floor to raise the entire grow off the floor.

*Walls. Use interlocking 1.5 or 2? foam insulation along all exposed walls. Place the insulation 1-4? away from walls, fit foam panels from floor to ceiling (some cutting may be required), and blow cold air into the gap. Seal seams and corners with tape. Cover walls with Mylar to reflect heat back into the room.

*Windows. Windows are essentially uninsulated, so you must fill the gap with insulation. Draw the curtains/blinds, add black poly behind, then add insulation.

Drawing description
A ? Public property that Leo can image from

B ? Internal basement room. Grow room heat will still be noticeable, and this side needs protection.

C -- ?Safe? basement rooms. Put ballasts and reservoir outside to minimize heat

D ? Partially insulated growroom. The pink band is the interlocking foam insulation, the blue band is the cold air contained between the insulation and the house walls. The window on the bottom of the picture can be open to allow cold air to enter the air gap. Room temperature air can also be blown in from an adjacent basement room through a hole in the foam panels.

Hiding the Exhaust
Safely exhausting hot air is difficult; Leo looks for unusual heat emissions coming from opened windows, chimneys, dryer vents and other handy places. Note: running exhaust to outside sheds, barns and tree stumps is well known to Leo.

Exhaust down the sewer Every house has a sewer vent standpipe. By venting down the sewer, the exhaust will be chilled and smell is distributed amongst you and your neighbors. The sewer cleanout access is often a 3-way 4? abs ?T? with a threaded cap somewhere in the basement. Remove cap, and hook your blower to the T (A 4? to 3? adapter funnel may be required) and run blower 24/7. This will not affect normal use of the sewer

Cool exhaust with water
Place a wet towel (wicking water from a tray underneath) partially over the end of the exhaust. Spraying water inside the exhaust pipe works as well.

Underground exhaust
Running the exhaust through a long, buried pipe helps to cool the air. Perimeter drains can be used for this.

Water-cooled lights
Running water cooled lights is very effective; IR heat from the lights are washed down the drain. Water cooled light systems are currently difficult to source, and have drawbacks including cost, condensation and leaks.

Mogie, like always thanks a ton for the helpful and real informative info for even the smartest people...i always learn a lot from your post and look forward to learning more...thanks for your time and effort to keep us informed and up to date with whats up...cheers rollitup!

lord we thank thee for the knowledge for which has been made available to us by our brothers and sisters so that we may all be so fortunate as to educate ourselves as to the scourge of the blasphemous infrastucture that bind our soiled hands and weary souls.

ha puppet your back. welcome back where u been?

MOGIE!!!! I started this thread w/ the info.!!!! I want credit!!!!! ha j/k

you def. added more to it though, thanks for hijacking MY thread and becoming cool, thanks.... alot lol