Personal Security: Keep it Tight

A quick glance at the local newspapers these days is more than enough to see that Her Travesty's boys in black are routing the pot community at the moment. Unfortunately, growing cannabis has become a high stakes game of cat and mouse and the enforcers of their law are coming up with ever more technologically advanced and devious methods of detection. This article takes a look at some of the latest tactics and methods of detection deployed by ‘the state' and some of the ways growers can minimise their chances of being nabbed.

A quick glance at the local newspapers these days is more than enough to see that Her Travesty's boys in black are routing the pot community at the moment. Unfortunately, growing cannabis has become a high stakes game of cat and mouse and the enforcers of their law are coming up with ever more technologically advanced and devious methods of detection. This article takes a look at some of the latest tactics and methods of detection deployed by ‘the state' and some of the ways growers can minimise their chances of being nabbed.

Growhouse detection techniques are becoming quite sophisticated now, with new methods being piloted in various places...
Dutch cops are passing out scratch n sniff cards in residential areas in a sinister attempt to get communities to inform on their neighbours. They're also piloting ‘smell guns'; I'm not sure of the range or accuracy of these things but they obviously work by detecting the sweet waft of cannabis in the air. Odour is becoming a big security issue so if you want to keep things tight then get on top of it from the beginning - there are plenty of products on the market for dealing with this but it's hard to beat a charcoal filter and a chimney vent. If you can't get access to a chimney vent and charcoal filters are too expensive for you then have a look online, or ask your local hydroponic shop for the latest advice/products. Ozone generators, which work by removing organic compounds from the air, are recommended by experts. If you're working to a tight budget you can get cheaper fixes to the odour problem - there are various odour-neutralising gels available which you can blow your stinky air across, you can also get hold of Bad Odor Blocks (made by II Rep-Z, Inc) which can be used to mask any incriminating smells. If anti-social odours are making your life difficult then seek expert advice immediately!

A lot of people get caught out by their energy consumption as well. We know that the cops and British Gas have teams that actively trawl through consumption statistics looking for the tell-tale signs of pot houses - avoid British Gas like the plague. SWEB are also known to volunteer suspicious consumption patterns to the police. It's anybody's guess as to how many other electricity companies are working with the police in this way. One way you can obscure you power usage is to get your electricity and gas from different suppliers. When you fill out all the forms for the electricity company tell them you have electric everything and you use it all a lot - especially computers and electric heaters. Then, make a concerted effort to minimise your use of electricity for everything apart from your grow op. You can disguise things further by staggering the on times of your flowering and veg rooms, and by putting extra lights in that only come on for a few hours here and there - try to be creative with your power usage.

Cops are getting clever with heat detection as well. We all know about the heat sensitive eye-in-the-sky, but, for some time now, local bobbies have been using hand-held thermal imaging viewers. When they get bored they drive around housing estates checking out roofs and windows for suspicious heat signatures. This obviously means that growers have to be careful how they get rid of the excess heat generated in grow rooms - venting out of a slightly open window or a corner of the loft is no longer a safe option. A further development of heat detection techniques is laser temperature guns; these guns supply the user with an accurate digital readout of surface temperatures. The best option for getting rid of any excess hot air is to vent it out of a chimney - by the time it gets to chimney pot level it will have cooled considerably and you have the added benefit of any pungent odours being dissipated across the roof tops. If you have to vent it out of a window or corner of your roof then make sure you let it run through a good length of ducting first, this'll give it time to cool down a bit... And if you're growing in the attic then do us all a favour and sort your insulation out - as you should know, 21-25 degrees is the optimum range for pot plants and if you're stabilised at those sorts of temperatures then you shouldn't raise to may heat-detecting eyebrows.

Intelligence, the oldest source of detection in the book, is undergoing a technological revolution as well. Pre-bust we have to deal with the social psy-ops like Catch a Rat where the media is flooded with misinformation and worst-case scenarios before people are encouraged to and offered rewards to grass on their neighbours. We'll talk about dealing with this in a minute... It's in a post-bust situation that the use of technology is becoming far more threatening: cops can access social networking sites after you've been arrested - be very careful what you talk to your mates if you use Facebook. The agents of the matrix are also using computer technology to cross reference phone numbers they find on confiscated/seized mobile phones - digitally communicate at your own risk, assume that all your communications will be monitored and always remember that old military nugget of wisdom: loose lips sink ships.
As well as being aware of the latest tactics and detection techniques being used by ‘the enemy', there are a number of simple, common-sense ways by which you can minimise your chances of popping up on their radar...
The last thing you need when your growing is that old, Tory-voting, Daily Mail reading, fascist-in-denial who lives next door thinking you're up to no good. Nightmare neighbours can be a constant source of paranoia and worry but there are three main areas you can focus on to minimise this issue; your appearances, front door traffic and work.
As far as your appearance goes, try not to wander around with a neon sign that says I'm a ganja farmer flashing over the top of your head! If you've got a knackered van full of empty rizla packets and beer cans parked on the side of the road and you look like a bleary-eyed Worzel Gummidge but live in a 3 bed semi in suburbia then it's only a matter of time before you're gonna be ringing the cell buzzer to ask for some toilet paper. Equally, the same applies to wandering around looking like some sort of pimped-up hip hop star if you're living on an estate where the majority of people cut their own hair and eat dried porridge oats with tap water for breakfast. Drawing unnecessary attention to yourself when you have a permanent crime happening in your spare room isn't the cleverest thing to do!
Front door traffic is a dead giveaway as well - a constant trail of pale, edgy and bedraggled crusties coming and going is as suspicious as no one coming and going at all...
Work is the third big issue that's going to get noticed by your neighbours; wage slaves and tax-payers know they're being screwed so they take comfort from knowing that those around them are being shafted just as hard, and it pisses them right off to think that the cat who lives next door manages to live a nice life without being mugged by the state. Getting and keeping a job in the present climate isn't easy, but if you can then it goes a long way to boosting your neighbourly credentials as far as that Tory-voting old biddy that lives on the corner is concerned.
Playing it safe with your neighbours is all about risk minimisation. If you've got nothing to hide then lay about all day every day getting mashed, invite every man and his dog around for a party in the evenings and live life however you like, but if you've got an illegal secret garden then you'd be a fool not to play the game.
Another factor you have to consider when you're thinking about personal security is transport. If you can do without a car or a van then great, save yourself the expense, hassle and attention that goes with running a motor. Vehicles are a necessary evil for a lot of people though, so if you have to have one then be careful how and when you use it in this never-ending game of cat and mouse... If you're a visitor to a local hydroponic shop then get someone else to give you a lift, or park your car a good mile away and wear a baseball cap when you go there. Hydro shops are frequently watched by the rozzers and people have been turned over by thieving scrotes attaching GPS trackers to cars parked outside growshops, they follow the signal home and pay you a visit when you least expect it.
If you ever have to do any driving around with illegally bulging pockets then try and do it at rush hour - this is a popular time of day for the uniforms to visit their feeding troughs, do their paperwork or disappear off into the woods with their partners to play kinky games with their cuffs and truncheons... It's also the hardest time of day for them to chase you and the most awkward time of day for them to pull you over and block a busy carriage-way. If you ever get stuck in front of any matrix agents on the roads then play it cool - the worst thing you can do is keep looking over your shoulder, checking your mirror or start fumbling with your pockets with a panicky look plastered all over your ugly mug.
Also, it's so obvious it's barely worth mentioning, but keep your vehicle legal - if you get pulled over because you aren't insured and you get caught with some weight then you deserve all the piss-taking that's thrown your way!
If you're the sort of grower that has excess amounts of bud or cash knocking around then you need a good, reliable stash as well. Not only will this help you sleep a little easier but it could also be the difference between a fine, suspended sentence and being locked up. The best way to go about this is to bring a good, trusted mate into the equation, someone who keeps their nose clean and their mouth shut. Sort them out for doing it and you'll have an ally you can rely on whenever you're in need.
Along with your stash, you've got to pay mind to your traceable assets - the more you have the more the courts can take away from you, it's as simple as that. Growing in rented property has its drawbacks but if you get caught you won't lose your house. Don't visibly own any more than you can afford to lose, and get your cash stashed or alibied.
There are a few security precautions you can take in your actual grow room as well.
Set your equipment up properly - don't leave heavy lights dangling from bits of string and double check your watering channels; if you set fire to or flood your property, or, even worse, your neighbours, then you're going to be in a whole world of uninsured shit.

Try and be careful of light pollution as well - 600W or 1kw of yellow sodium light blasting out of your window can look like you're putting out a call to the Thunder Cats! Keep tents zipped shut and curtains drawn when the lights are on, but, just to satisfy your neighbours' curiosity, open your curtains whenever you can.
Another good tactic is to line the floor of your room with recent newspapers at the beginning of each crop. By doing this you can argue that this was the first time you tried growing pot. Remember to change the newspaper every crop though, if you've got 3 year old newspaper lining the bottom of your grow room it isn't going to look too good! Remember to get rid of old rootballs and stalks as quickly as possible as well.
If you pay heed to all these tips then you'll significantly narrow your chances of getting rumbled. However, people get nicked for growing pot every day and if you play the game long enough then, sooner or later, it'll probably happen to you. If the shit ever hits your fan then the first thing you have to worry about is your own mouth - do not talk to the police, do not tell them anything without getting independent legal advice first, even if you have to wait in a cell for a few hours until it arrives. Cops can be very persuasive, they're trained to be and they deal with people like you all day every day, but don't be taken in by their manipulative demeanour. Waiting a few hours for legal advice before you talk to them can save you untold troubles further down the line.