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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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 Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject: UK: Sniffer Dogs in town centre at the weekend |
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Dogs in town centre at the weekend
SNIFFER dogs are being used to hound drug-using revellers out of town centre pubs.
Two Labradors and a King Charles spaniel were stationed outside eight pubs and clubs twice last week and sniffed out several drinkers’ stashes of cannabis and one person’s class A drugs. The sight of the dogs also scared several people into dumping their dope police said.
The trials last Thursday and Saturday were so successful that the dogs will continue to be used right through until after Christmas at a cost to the taxpayer of £6,200.
The dogs are owned by private company Grosvenor International Services and are being paid for by the crime and disorder reduction partnership between the police and Reading Borough Council.
The spaniels can be sent in to mingle among drinkers, but it is not known yet if that will happen in Reading.
Reading Town Centre Pubwatch secretary Bill Donne said: “I thought it went exceptionally well.”
Mr Donne said: “They are extremely sensitive dogs. If somebody has been exposed to drugs over the past 48 hours it will pick up a whole range of drugs – cannabis, heroin, cocaine, and even pills.”
Mr Donne said the dogs were not intimidating and would only sit at the entrance to venues rather than patrolling busy areas such as Friar Street.
He said: “These are the type of dogs you just want to pick up and give a hug to.
“They will identify a potential suspect by looking up at the handler. The strategy is that the supervisor will stop the suspect and ask their permission if they can search them.
“We have got a protocol in the town – the search policy is a condition of entry. If the individual refuses they won’t be allowed in the venue.
“If they are searched and an illegal substance or offensive weapon is found, it will be confiscated and the police will be called to interview them.
“It does send a message out to the young revellers in the town that drugs won’t be tolerated and we are clamping down.”
Mr Donne added: “I would have thought that by the number of people with the dogs that a lot more would have been identified.”
So far 32 venues in the town centre have agreed to support the sniffer dog initiative, but Mr Donne anticipated that more would sign up given the success of the pilots.
He added that this was one of a series of measures Pubwatch had agreed with Thames Valley Police and the licensing department of Reading Borough Council to help reduce crime and disorder in the town centre.
Civil liberties group Liberty would not comment.
Sergeant Richard Parker, of the town centre patrol unit, said: “The dogs have been used, with great success, in other parts of Thames Valley.
“As well as being a vital tool in the fight against drugs in Reading’s nightspots, they are also a great deterrent and we hope revellers take note that we are being proactive and we will not tolerate drugs in the town centre, or anywhere else for that matter.”
http://www.getreading.co.uk/story.asp?intid=13017
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Brother Adam
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 04 Feb 2005
Posts: 1915
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Sidewalk search and seizure! Wonder how long till they're doing that over here......can't be long.
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“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
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Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face. |
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