Police Infared

So i have heard this is a way to get caught. police checking heat signatures in houses. i have a few questions.
1. is this true?
2. does it make a difference if the grow is in a basement opposed to a first floor room?
3. how do i combat this?
4. if this is possible, what are the chances the police department of a small town of less than 5000 people are utilizing it?

thanks for all of your answers. i have tried to find information on it but nothing real clear.

There's been a police copter flying over my area in circles about 9pm or 10pm two to three times a week here. Kinda worries me too.

cricket101 said:

There's been a police copter flying over my area in circles about 9pm or 10pm two to three times a week here. Kinda worries me too.

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Around what area

is it something they only use in helicopters or can/do they use them in cars too?

RoadhouseToker said:

So i have heard this is a way to get caught. police checking heat signatures in houses. i have a few questions.
1. is this true?
2. does it make a difference if the grow is in a basement opposed to a first floor room?
3. how do i combat this?
4. if this is possible, what are the chances the police department of a small town of less than 5000 people are utilizing it?

thanks for all of your answers. i have tried to find information on it but nothing real clear.

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1. Yes, it is true, but not a commonly used tactic.
2. Yes, your basement should help keep your grow area much cooler and help mask any abnormal thermal signatures.
3. The easiest way to combat this issue, use LED grow lights, they operate at a much cooler temperature than HPS.
4. Probably not, as they would need a helicopter to properly use the Infrared Scanner to look for abnormal heat signatures.

It is very true, and something that happens everyday.
HTGSUPPLY.COM allegedly has grow tents that are built to block heat signatures, along with that; a good ventilation system such as a rabbit fan with ducting leading outside should definetly be more then enough unless your conducting a large scale commercial grow. The basement is usually naturally a more cool place, but you should definetly find a way to extract the hot air from the basement, otherwise you'd be recirculating the same emmisions back to your plants eventually and you would eliminate the heat problem.

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this . . . The use of IR to locate grows was found to be a search and therefore unconstitutional without a warrant PRIOR to the flyover! It is a violation of the 4th Amendment to randomly flyover house with IR looking for illegal activity.

HydroDawg421 said:

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this . . . The use of IR to locate grows was found to be a search and therefore unconstitutional without a warrant PRIOR to the flyover! It is a violation of the 4th Amendment to randomly flyover house with IR looking for illegal activity.

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Guy, what year are you living in?
They're listening to every phone call you make, but flying over your house is "unconstitutional", c'mon.

I say BS, because you may have reptile cages for pets, or even a wood stove or many other things

cdd10 said:

Around what area

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I can't go into detail for obvious reasons, but I'm in the deep south.

thanks for all the replies! very useful stuff here. seems like the best way to handle the problem is to have a good ventilation system.
i probably wont worry about the po po ir as i am planning a small scale grow. hopefully in a basement and i will try my best at leading the exhaust outside.

It is used. They are supposed to have a warrant. It can be used from cars. They are getting cheaper. I saw a video where people were driving in a car and looking for a hot spot. The hot spot was often the exhaust out of the house.

seen that vid too bro if u want to know for sure check out youtube where the cops actually have videos of using this stuff... but dude i think u would have to have a pretty big grow to get caught that way

several ways the cops get u

1 the store u buy items from is watched .........when u toss out the trash they take it look for anything in of a grow op

2 someone talked /does not like u dropped a dime that u might be doing something

3 your power use goes to a amount abnormal for your area and your old power bills

4 the IR image they pick up from the air (as the guy said several different things it could be so search warrents are not just based off the IR singal anymore)

5 a large influx on your spending bank and creditcards ....and the cards being paided off /down at a abnormal rate for your listed job

6 phone contacts from arrest and warrent on your phone to trace back who your dealer is looking for a larger fish

7 foot traffic .......ppl coming and going at odd hours....... large numbers of ppl ...ppl running in and out.....................this is when they do a traffic stop and see if they find anything coming out of the house at that point your house is being watched and u are about to be raided


how do i know i been raided 3 times ................they got nothing but a bowl and 1/8 i miss placed (was under the bed)

counter measures are simple but most ppl can not do it ..........cops before they get warrents will as to do a look and see ( they can look but not touch anything) so u keep your shit clean all your grow stuff and weed is different room locked up out of site (the house u have old pizza boxes and stuff around messes with dogs noses ) ..............they come in with a warrent they are allowed to look and move things but u look at the warrent most are made out just for certin rooms once they find something in there gives them the right to look in the rest of the area .................done right they come in look and find nothing but 3 feet away u have 6 plants in bloom

they find nothing in that first room /look u tell them get the hell out and any damage to your items will be billed to the station .............gather up badge numbers (do not video or photo they get pissed about that and laws will allow them to take your items for up to 90 days)

Fuck the po-po. I beat a search and the mf'ers HAD a warrant!!! KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT WHEN THEY SHOW UP!!!

If you are growing on a small scale the number one cause of having the police show up is because someone you know got busted, the police use the tactic of scaring that innocent small time pot smoker into giving up some names for an apparent reduced sentence or fine (which they cant actually authorize anyway as it is up to a judge to determine your punishment, not in fact the police, unless they are going to just let you off with something like deferral to a drug seminar and a fine, which they will choose to do if you help them or not based on the amount of drugs and type).

Its often if they arrest people late at night and they don't ask for a lawyer, or they say its to late to get a lawyer then proceed to try to put pressure on that person to give up their source.

So basically, don't tell ANYONE your growing, if you post on forums do it from an IP address that cant be traced back to you, never use your real name, don't give out any information that could identify you, don't write anything down.

The part about the police watching hydro stores really seems a little far fetched and would depend more on location than anything else. Buying items from a hydroponics shop does not warrant any from of police investigation at all unless they ran the plates of the car you were driving and a lot of known drug arrests or criminal behavior came up. I have friends who have bought small clone tents, lighting systems, fans etc and they are growing herbs, buying things from a shop does not equate to any form of legal investigation, anyone who says there are enough police to follow every person who buys items from a shop has been smoking to much.

What I would say is a combination of suspicious activity would be the most likely cause for investigation, the simple fact is most people who get the police knocking at their doors are stupid enough to bring it on themselves. I have friends who got busted for dealing and of course they were growing in their homes so when the police got a warrant look what other charges they can add. On the other side I know some people who have grown for 10+ years in many different houses never sold any and never been close to getting caught, they grow private they smoke private, they aren't high at work or smoking in their cars (its all about not drawing unnecessary attention).

Either a copper or a PCSO had her own house searched for a suspected cannabis grow after an IR camera picked up a strong heat signature. Turned out it was just a really heat inefficient house, but they do use the cameras to locate potential grows. This was in the UK, tried to find a link to the article but it's not happening.

HydroDawg421 said:

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this . . . The use of IR to locate grows was found to be a search and therefore unconstitutional without a warrant PRIOR to the flyover! It is a violation of the 4th Amendment to randomly flyover house with IR looking for illegal activity.

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HydroDawg is 100% correct, without a warrant and probable cause if someone in the States is busted using an IR detector it is inadmissible in court. Granted it still happens, they will lie and say it was a random fly/drive by and you will have to go through the troubles these f*cks cause to innocent people, including losing your grow and $ fighting it, but you will not go to jail. Unless you are really dumb and take a plea deal thinking they have you cornered. Most of the time unless you have a large grow you will not be bothered with. Good luck to everyone and their grows.


4ThePeople

the way it works is like this. if they fly over your house and notice its has a hot spot or whatever as long as its contained inside your house they cant use it. if you are venting air outside your house they can use it because its now public property not inside the house. and that depends on state government. we have drones now too. I keep up on this stuff. also everything has r value. insulation ect. flir cant see through solid walls,ie.brick,cement,ground,ect. it can test the foundation to see it its warmer than the rest but again that's inside the house.if you vent to your attic and it goes out a roof vent, it can be used.
also a grow less than 2000 watts isn't usually caught by flir radar. unless as stated its blowing to public view.

HydroDawg421 said:

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this . . . The use of IR to locate grows was found to be a search and therefore unconstitutional without a warrant PRIOR to the flyover! It is a violation of the 4th Amendment to randomly flyover house with IR looking for illegal activity.

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patriot act, im sure allows them to do this more frequently than not, in search of "terrorists"