What's up with the low flying helicopter?

[Mac2017]

These guys have been flying very low in the neighborhood, are they really going after people for a few pakalolo plants? If so, I would think they would be arresting a lot of people here. Seems like a lot of money being spent fo such a minor offense.

[leilanidude]

Can you describe the helicopter? Is it flying (following)along the power lines?

[Mac2017]

No sir, I have seen two, one is the yellow helicopter pictured in the westhawaiitody.com article on the pakalolo eradication and the other was a black eurocopter uh-72. Both were flying very low over people's homes. I'm sure you have seen them if your punaweb name is indicitave of your location. They were not flying the power line, I'm used to that. Do they really lock up residents for growing a plant or two? Seems a little crazy with all the world's problems to lock up people for something minor, but heck, what do I know.

[kalakoa]

They don't automatically go after everyone, it's more of an intimidation program, funded with "free money" from the Feds.

I'm more curious about what happens when the dispensaries open sometime in the next couple of years, supposedly the rules will change so that nobody except the "licensed production facility" is allowed to cultivate, any "backyard grow" will automatically be illegal, which will make things much easier for the helicopters.

State just loves to waste money enforcing pointless rules.

[Mac2017]

I laughed when they were over my house. I just waved since I have nothing to hide, but I would feel bad if someone got hammered over this. Politics are just nuts these days.

[leilanidude]

http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-ne...ocean-view

Found the article. Dated June 15th, yesterday

[Chunkster]

Such a waste of law enforcement resources. Remember this when the only really accountable person in this scenario, prosecutor Mitch Roth, is up for re-election. Also, read the comments in that West Hawaii Today piece for some concise summation on the subject.

[leilanidude]

I highly doubt they are looking for small numbers of plants. They also have the addresses of all registered medical card holders. People with 100's of plants are not growing for personal use and tend to possess all sorts of unregistered guns, based upon the police reports that come out after these raids.

[MarkP]

I heard what I thought was a low flying helicopter over EdenRoc a few days ago. It was so low that while it sounded close I couldn't see it over the trees. Either that or it was something on the ground but it sure sounded like a helicopter.

I am torn. As a pilot I am on the receiving end of a lot of BS anti-flying crap but when there is a helicopter truly hovering over your house it is really annoying. The ones that fly over my property at 1500' agl or so don't attract my attention any more and complaints about them set off my BS alarm but flying 500' agl is really intrusive. OTOH there is sometimes reason for it. A major grow operation with a lot of money involved is nothing to make light of. People willing to flout one set of rules on that scale usually are willing to flout all sorts of social contracts. Like a neighbor who raises a hundred fighting cocks he is not going to care about your concerns or quality of life and has a financial incentive to play hardball to get his way.

For the record I think that marijuana should be legalized and not like is being proposed. Anybody should be able to grow it in their back yard. They do anyway.

[Mac2017]

Leilani, if thats the case then I'm sure most people would not mind the enforcement efforts including myself. Hundreds of plants being grown would indicate some level of orginazed crime. People like that don't stop at weed. They are into guns, meth, violence, ect. Lock those dudes up and grow away the key, however, the government coming in and busting people in their small garden, that's a whole different animal. Obviously I don't know what the intention of the police, I just hope they are enforcing the spirit of the law, not the letter. That would be a lot of people getting jammed up.