This_is_my_alias
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Messages
- 68
from:http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18395836-28793,00.html
Sniffer dogs in high schools
From: By Jane Metlikovec
March 09, 2006
VICTORIAN school principals are hiring sniffer dogs to pace their corridors in a bid to curb rampant playground drug dealing.
Detector Dogs Australia said it has searched about 50 secondary schools in the past year, and found drugs in almost half.
The dogs sniffed out stashes of cocaine, speed and cannabis.
Government, independent and Catholic schools in Melbourne, Bendigo and Gippsland were among those to bring in sniffer dogs.
The Victorian Principals Association confirmed it knew of at least six state secondary school principals who had hired dogs during the past year.
"Schools are using sniffer dogs as part of a range of surveillance activities to ensure that they are as drug-free as possible," association president Andrew Blair said.
A Herald Sun Insight investigation into youth and drugs also revealed:
ALMOST half of 80 secondary students surveyed by Insight had seen drugs and drug deals at their school.
POLICE charge at least one young teenager a week with drug offences.
A 10-YEAR-OLD boy was among more than 2000 under-19s charged with drug offences in 2004-05.
AT least one teenager a week is charged with cultivating, manufacturing or trafficking drugs.
MORE than 1900 youths were treated by ambulance officers in 2004, including a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old who took ecstasy and LSD.
ABOUT five under-21s are treated for drugs each night in Melbourne.
YOUNG Victorians make more than 250,000 visits a year to mental health services, about 70 per cent suffering disorders related to drug abuse.
ALMOST half of offenders in juvenile detention centres were using drugs when they committed their last crime, according to an Australian Institute of Criminology survey.
THE survey also revealed almost 44 per cent of young burglars robbed homes to buy drugs.
Detector Dogs director Neville Williams said his dogs had searched some schools this year, including a northern suburbs private school on the first day back from holidays.
"On average, we probably go through four secondary schools a month throughout Victoria and we have found lots of drugs," he said.
Most kept the drug finds secret.
Mr Williams said two large cannabis stashes had been found inside school lockers in the past year, with one at a top Melbourne school.
Drug dog searches cost about $300.
A spokesman for Education Minister Lynne Kosky refused to comment on the sniffer dogs.
And a Department of Education spokeswoman said the department was not aware of the practice.
Neville Williams, of Detector Dogs, said most drugs were found in lockers while students were in classrooms.
It was up to schools to decide how to deal with drug offenders identified during searches, he said.
"Once the dogs hit their target, we are out of there."
Principals Association president Andrew Blair said state schools usually had a number of anti-drug measures in place.
"Five years ago, principals would have been much more hesitant, but now they are prepared to consider sniffer dogs as an option," he said.
"I know of six schools who have used them in the past year as part of a range of surveillance activities."
The Catholic Education Office said it was unaware of school principals hiring sniffer dogs.
"The Catholic system is very autonomous so we wouldn't necessarily know if it is happening in Catholic schools or not," spokesman David Ahern said.
"It wouldn't surprise me because I heard of it happening in South Australia, when a few of the big schools did it last year."
Association of Independent Schools chief executive Michelle Green said she had never heard of sniffer dogs in private schools.
"I would be very surprised if I were told it was becoming a widespread practice," she said.
Sniffer dogs in high schools
From: By Jane Metlikovec
March 09, 2006
VICTORIAN school principals are hiring sniffer dogs to pace their corridors in a bid to curb rampant playground drug dealing.
Detector Dogs Australia said it has searched about 50 secondary schools in the past year, and found drugs in almost half.
The dogs sniffed out stashes of cocaine, speed and cannabis.
Government, independent and Catholic schools in Melbourne, Bendigo and Gippsland were among those to bring in sniffer dogs.
The Victorian Principals Association confirmed it knew of at least six state secondary school principals who had hired dogs during the past year.
"Schools are using sniffer dogs as part of a range of surveillance activities to ensure that they are as drug-free as possible," association president Andrew Blair said.
A Herald Sun Insight investigation into youth and drugs also revealed:
ALMOST half of 80 secondary students surveyed by Insight had seen drugs and drug deals at their school.
POLICE charge at least one young teenager a week with drug offences.
A 10-YEAR-OLD boy was among more than 2000 under-19s charged with drug offences in 2004-05.
AT least one teenager a week is charged with cultivating, manufacturing or trafficking drugs.
MORE than 1900 youths were treated by ambulance officers in 2004, including a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old who took ecstasy and LSD.
ABOUT five under-21s are treated for drugs each night in Melbourne.
YOUNG Victorians make more than 250,000 visits a year to mental health services, about 70 per cent suffering disorders related to drug abuse.
ALMOST half of offenders in juvenile detention centres were using drugs when they committed their last crime, according to an Australian Institute of Criminology survey.
THE survey also revealed almost 44 per cent of young burglars robbed homes to buy drugs.
Detector Dogs director Neville Williams said his dogs had searched some schools this year, including a northern suburbs private school on the first day back from holidays.
"On average, we probably go through four secondary schools a month throughout Victoria and we have found lots of drugs," he said.
Most kept the drug finds secret.
Mr Williams said two large cannabis stashes had been found inside school lockers in the past year, with one at a top Melbourne school.
Drug dog searches cost about $300.
A spokesman for Education Minister Lynne Kosky refused to comment on the sniffer dogs.
And a Department of Education spokeswoman said the department was not aware of the practice.
Neville Williams, of Detector Dogs, said most drugs were found in lockers while students were in classrooms.
It was up to schools to decide how to deal with drug offenders identified during searches, he said.
"Once the dogs hit their target, we are out of there."
Principals Association president Andrew Blair said state schools usually had a number of anti-drug measures in place.
"Five years ago, principals would have been much more hesitant, but now they are prepared to consider sniffer dogs as an option," he said.
"I know of six schools who have used them in the past year as part of a range of surveillance activities."
The Catholic Education Office said it was unaware of school principals hiring sniffer dogs.
"The Catholic system is very autonomous so we wouldn't necessarily know if it is happening in Catholic schools or not," spokesman David Ahern said.
"It wouldn't surprise me because I heard of it happening in South Australia, when a few of the big schools did it last year."
Association of Independent Schools chief executive Michelle Green said she had never heard of sniffer dogs in private schools.
"I would be very surprised if I were told it was becoming a widespread practice," she said.