“Without that input from members of the public, we wouldn’t know a lot of things,” he said.

“We would encourage members of the community who see something to report it.

“That’s how we solve a lot of crimes and detect places (such as grow houses).” 

The Courier earlier reported police had found the cannabis crop at the Redan property on the corner of Talbot and Bell streets in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

Senior Sergeant Stacey Glenister said a passerby alerted police after the well-lit house aroused suspicion. 

Police officers were called to the property at around 4.30am on Tuesday, where they discovered the hydroponic set-up. 

Inspector Payne said the Criminal Investigation Unit is continuing their investigations and could not give an estimated value of the cannabis crop until an assessment had been made. 

No charges had been laid at the time The Courier went to press. 

Ballarat Inspector Bruce Thomas said the community played an important role in reporting suspicious activity. 

“Police can’t be everywhere all of the time so we rely on the community to give us information – not only on these crop houses but for all types of crime,” he said. 

“We would urge the community to report any suspicious activity with these types of houses, where people are coming and going, to Crime Stoppers and police on triple zero and we’ll certainly investigate.”

Inspector Thomas said suspicious activity included people coming and going at odd times of the day and night, people being secretive in their movements, blacked-out windows, lights coming from a property when nobody is home, and people tampering with electrical boxes. 

“Quite often it’s an amateur person who has tampered with the electricity to avoid detection by the electricity companies,” he said. “And that can be very dangerous.” 

“There can also be traps around these types of houses so we urge people not to go near the house but to report it.” 

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Ballarat Police on 5336 6000.