like i said i know the law and i know full well no judge or magistrate would be allowed to provide a search warrant to force entry and risk injuries or maybe even death to people and damage property just based on hot air
Not sure what country you guys are discussing. In the US, FLIR scans can lead to the police seeking information from the electric company. (We have no expectation of privacy from our electric provider unless they offer a written privacy policy. They're not held to a statutory level of privacy as telcos are, or were prior to 2002. It's just a private relationship in which either party is free to divulge information about that relationship.). If the police find that you use 5 times the electricity as your neighbors, and half the number of people living at your home, that can lead to greater surveillance. Add onto that the new "smart meters" which record spikes in usage (like your three 1k HIDs coming on for the same 12 hours every day).
You've argued against a search warrant of your property. But, there are other warrants. Such as your financial transactions, or delivery records. I'm not sure that information is private either. There are reports that it's available on Lexus-Nexus to government agencies. Depending on what that turns up, it could lead to a warrant of your property.
Finally, most cops I've known are of the "whatever it takes" variety. They come from military backgrounds thanks to the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1993 which was sold as putting "100 thousand new cops on the street" but had strings attached, that local communities higher vets from the '91 Gulf War. That changed the face of local police departments from "peace keepers" to "law enforcement." That's when they began carrying M16s in their trunks, dressed in tactical outfits rather than a dress-shirts and slacks. Bulked up on steroids. It became much more of a brotherhood ("us vs. them"), than it was when they came from different walks of life and could identify with the community more.
Unfortunately, that "whatever it takes" mentality leads to squeezing their contacts on the street to tell them what they want. If they "know" you're up to something, they'll get someone to say they saw the grow, or bought weed from you, or whatever, just to beat a jaywalking rap. The investigator won't be too concerned about it because he "knows." He's just doing whatever it takes. The ends will justify the means. On the rare occurrence that 1) you're growing butternut squash, and 2) you're going to be one of those libertarian types who won't just show the officer the squash grow like a good, team-playing member of the community, the officer can just say the confidential informant lied. (And, cough, you kinda deserved it by being one of those libertarian types who makes the officer's job harder, cough.).
I'm not saying I agree with how that works. Just that that's how it works. Anyone who stands on how it
should work to believe they're safe is underestimating the risk they face.
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