Pubdate: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 Source: West Australian (Australia) Copyright: 2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.thewest.com.au Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495 Author: Pamela Magill JAIL DRUG DOGS EARN REGIONAL ROLE DRUG detector dogs in WA prisons have been responsible for more than 500 seizures of contraband in the past year. The big haul includes 89 quantities of cannabis, 58 quantities of illegal tablets, 68 quantities of white powder such as heroin and amphetamine and 50 various unlawful items including weapons. Justice Minister Michelle Roberts said yesterday drug dogs would be permanently based at key regional prisons. The additional dogs and handlers would be based at Albany, Bunbury, Greenough and Wooroloo prions. "People will take extraordinary steps in their attempts to get past our security cordons, including having drugs concealed in the clothing of their infant children," Mrs Roberts said. She said extra dogs and handlers would send a strong message to would-be traffickers that people who try will be caught. Three new dogs and handlers joined the canine section yesterday after being trained in multi-response. They are able to work with both public and prison searchers. Mrs Roberts said it meant one team could now do the work of two and the dogs were increasingly effective. "This means there will now be even more search operations at more prisons," she said. People went to extreme lengths to get contraband into jails and officers could have strip searches and a range of other strategies but they were time-consuming and labour-intensive, Mrs Roberts said. "Dogs can detect these things," she said. "A lot of drugs are brought in by visitors in a whole range of ways. What we know we know with the dogs is that they can help us eliminate drugs from prisons." The additional teams at the regional prisons will begin operational duties in June next year. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk