Pubdate: Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Tim Dick
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?237 (Drug Dogs)

SNIFFER DOGS BARKING UP WRONG TREE: REPORT

THE drug sniffer dog program is an expensive waste of money that 
fails to catch serious drug dealers but manages to embarrass 
thousands doing nothing wrong, a NSW Ombudsman investigation has found.

The Government believes the dogs interrupt the supply of illegal 
drugs, but the two-year investigation found they stop three times as 
many people who are not carrying drugs as those who are.

During the study, 10,211 people were stopped at train stations, in 
pubs and on streets - but only a quarter of those searched were 
carrying illegal drugs.

Almost all of those were carrying cannabis, and mostly in small 
amounts, with cocaine and heroin discovered on fewer occasions than 
prescription drugs.

The Drug Detection Dog Unit cost $870,000 in 2002-03, but over the 
study period, just 19 people were convicted for supplying drugs. Most 
of those were carrying drugs for their friends rather than for sale, 
the report found, with only three sentenced to periodic detention.

The Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, made 55 recommendations to improve the 
effectiveness of the program, but questioned the worth of keeping the 
enabling laws at all.

"Despite the best efforts of police, the evidence suggests that there 
is little value in trying to identify drug dealers by screening 
people with drug detection dogs in public places," he said.

However, the acting police minister, David Campbell, said sniffer 
dogs were an effective deterrent that saved lives and interrupted the 
supply of drugs.

The 19 convictions for supply was an "entirely satisfactory outcome", he said.
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