Utility company’s proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns

  • 📰 Mynorthwest
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 64 sec. here
  • 9 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 50%
  • Publisher: 53%

Mynorthwest.Com - Seattle News News

Sports,Weather,Traffic

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors.

This image provided by the Somerset County, Maine, Sheriff’s Office, shows a rural home that was converted into a sophisticated marijuana grow operation on May 17, 2024, in Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine utility wants to assist investigators by proactively providing electrical usage data to police. BANGOR, Maine — Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors.

“Versant has a very high success rate in being able to identify these locations, but we have no ability to communicate with law enforcement proactively,” Myrick-Stockdell told commissioners. The Washington-based group has never heard of a proposal like this, he said, though federal courts have authorized the sharing of consumer data from so-called “smart” electric meters for the limited purposes of managing the power grid.

In Oklahoma, farms, empty nursing homes, bowling alleys and warehouses were transformed into marijuana production operations after voters legalized cannabis for medical use in 2018. Police began cracking down after realizing straw owners in China and Mexico were running many of the licensed operations, said Mark Woodward, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

In Somerset County, Sheriff Dale Lancaster, whose deputies have executed search warrants on 21 marijuana operations, said law enforcement works best with community support, and he described Versant’s proposal as a “good first step.” CMP, the state’s largest electric utility, now formally opposes the change but will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement if customer information is requested through subpoena, said spokesperson Jonathan Breed.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 438. in BUSİNESS

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

UK utility giant Thames Water will seek fresh funding to keep business afloatBritain's largest utility company Thames Water says it will seek fresh funding to keep the business afloat even as it warned it would run out of money by the end of May.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »