4 ms·

A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says illegal

25 points by duxup 1y ago

duxup 1y ago
I had to change "Eff says that's illegal" to "EFF says illegal" to fit the title length limits.
0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding, fanned out around the home of Brian Decker, another Sacramento resident. The officers forced Decker to walk backward out of his home in only his underwear around 7 am while his neighbors watched. The deputies said that he, too, was under suspicion of illegally growing cannabis. To say nothing of the issue at hand, but few things make me more angry than cops escalating everything. Guy growing pot at his home? Guess he is lucky SWAT did not break down the door at 2AM and shoot his dog.
- duxup 1y ago
  It seems to be one of those "computer told me there are bad people here, this is easy" kinda thing. Serious police work is hard ... this seems like the local police putting resources into what is easy.
buttercraft 1y ago
Yeah I don't trust their accuracy at all. Last winter my gas heater was out of commission for about a month. I plugged in 3 oil filled electric radiant heaters. I had guests at the time so I kept the temperature up higher than usual in areas of the house which I normally keep cooler. It all worked out great. The next power bill showed that most of my power usage was "lighting." Uh huh.
nobody9999 1y ago
TFA doesn't specify if the Sacramento Sheriff's Department actually gets search warrants based on the "information" from the electric company. I'd expect not, as ISTM elevated electricity usage isn't "probable cause" for a search warrant. Or at least it shouldn't be, IMNSHO.
jmpman 1y ago
Police used to use airplane based thermal imaging looking for homes which were abnormally warm, back before LEDs. Kyllo v. United States Went to the Supreme Court and found this as a “search”. “Where, as here, the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a ‘search’ and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.” The argument seems to cover this scenario too?
- jmpman 1y ago
  You can think of your home as a literal black box. In this case a black box radiator. If the police are unable to look at the emissions, because they could reveal illegal activity, then why can they look at energy usage, which is a proxy for the same thing?

25 points by duxup 1y ago

I had to change "Eff says that's illegal" to "EFF says illegal" to fit the title length limits.

That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding, fanned out around the home of Brian Decker, another Sacramento resident. The officers forced Decker to walk backward out of his home in only his underwear around 7 am while his neighbors watched. The deputies said that he, too, was under suspicion of illegally growing cannabis. To say nothing of the issue at hand, but few things make me more angry than cops escalating everything. Guy growing pot at his home? Guess he is lucky SWAT did not break down the door at 2AM and shoot his dog.

duxup 1y ago
It seems to be one of those "computer told me there are bad people here, this is easy" kinda thing. Serious police work is hard ... this seems like the local police putting resources into what is easy.

buttercraft 1y ago

Yeah I don't trust their accuracy at all. Last winter my gas heater was out of commission for about a month. I plugged in 3 oil filled electric radiant heaters. I had guests at the time so I kept the temperature up higher than usual in areas of the house which I normally keep cooler. It all worked out great. The next power bill showed that most of my power usage was "lighting." Uh huh.

nobody9999 1y ago

TFA doesn't specify if the Sacramento Sheriff's Department actually gets search warrants based on the "information" from the electric company. I'd expect not, as ISTM elevated electricity usage isn't "probable cause" for a search warrant. Or at least it shouldn't be, IMNSHO.

jmpman 1y ago

Police used to use airplane based thermal imaging looking for homes which were abnormally warm, back before LEDs. Kyllo v. United States Went to the Supreme Court and found this as a “search”. “Where, as here, the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a ‘search’ and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.” The argument seems to cover this scenario too?

jmpman 1y ago
You can think of your home as a literal black box. In this case a black box radiator. If the police are unable to look at the emissions, because they could reveal illegal activity, then why can they look at energy usage, which is a proxy for the same thing?